Breaking Through
by Dexter1995
Summary: As with most teens, Dashiell Parr is looking to break through to be his own independent person. However being a super complicates that even further as Dash fights not only villians, but even clashes with his family and peers as he seeks his independence. And maybe finds more than what he bargained for? I do not own any thing. All rights go to Brad Bird and Disney-Pixar.
1. Exposition, part 1

**To start, the original **_**The Incredibles**_ **came out when I was 9 years old and is one of my top favorite Disney franchises. So you could imagine how I felt when the next movie came out when I was almost 23 last year. Haha. I loved the sequel as well and I just had this massive itch to write fanfiction for it! And specifically I wanted a fanfic that would center around Dash, specifically an older Dash. ;) Haha. So, I want to elaborate on the setting of this story. The events of this fanfic takes place 7 years after **_**The Incredibles 2**_**. And as with the movies, I will focus a lot on Family/Action/Comedy and also splash in some teenage angst for good measure. Again, I do not own anything involved in **_**The Incredibles**_ **franchise or its characters. All rights go to Brad Bird and Disney-Pixar respectively. I am just an avid fan expressing my love for this franchise. :) Hope you enjoy this teaser chapter!**

It was a sunny day in early fall in suburban Metroville.

The sun was slowly approaching the edge of the horizon in evening as citizens went about their routines. Anything from returning from work, finishing up after school activities, or even just getting dinner sorted or shopping.

Either way, everything seemed status quo.

As of now, a group of boys walked out of James Madison High School carrying their backpacks, gym bags, and shoulder pads. All of them roughly between the ages of 14 to 18 having just finished up with football practice.

In the middle of the group, seeming to be laughing and joking around with the rest of his teammates was a boy about the age of 17.

His blonde hair kept cut shorter but contained in a breezed back look with pomade, blue eyes, and a lean yet athletically tall frame of about 6'1''.

A boy who could be mistaken for none other than Dashiell "Dash" Parr, the school football team's fullback.

He kept laughing as all his friends from the team kept horsing around.

At that moment the school's linebacker, Vince Halliday, came up and bumped shoulders playfully with Dash as he said, "You're getting slow, Parr. I was able to take you down easy at practice. Keep that up, man, and Westbrook will have no problem taking you down for homecoming if _you're_ running the ball, _twinkle toes_."

Dash smiled internally, remembering but also laughing internally at what he did _purposely _earlier during practice to _keep up appearances, _just like he does every game and practice.

So, he played along as he responded, almost playfully cocky, "Yeah man, you tackled me _a few times_… out of the billions of other times you didn't get a hand on me. Seems like you gotta work on your blind spots or we might as well replace you with a tackling dummy."

Vince elbowed Dash on the shoulder, smirking but still looking a bit put out by being picked on back, as he countered, "Yeah, right."

The group laughed again before a huge _crash_ and _boom_ was heard and the boys turned their heads toward the direction of the city in the distance where the loud noises came from.

One of the boys next to Vince rolled his eyes as he said, "Looks like another _nutjob of the week_ is messing up the city again."

"Week? I swear the city's always got a total psycho daily destroying everything… Hey, where'd Parr go?" Vince added.

The group all looked around themselves only to see Dash was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile Dash made a quick escape, to put it _conservatively_, to his old beat up sedan he inherited from Violet on his 16th birthday and immediately drove off to a more secluded location far from the school.

He eventually got to this secluded spot near a few trees, a smirk on his face all the while as he reached under his car seat and pulled out a mask before pulling it over his head, masking everything with the exception of the lower half of his face and the top of his head to allow his hair to still be visible.

_**4 hours later**_

**(Dash's POV)**

I tried to button up my letterman jacket all the way, even though I feel like I'm dying of heat stroke.

All I kept doing was looking around, making sure no one was watching. It didn't look like anyone was in the living room.

_Home free._

I tried to close my car door as quietly as possible until right at the end when the top hinge just _had_ to squeak so loud it scared a bunch of birds in the tree next to the house. I felt my whole body tense up, cursing to myself and hoping that didn't give me away.

_C'mon, c'mon…_

I didn't see anything happening and the house was still pretty dark.

All I saw was some light flickering from the window but that could be dad or Jack-Jack watching TV… and 'hopefully' just dad or Jack-Jack.

I tried to quietly go in and at least make it inside.

I stepped in and looked over, pretty much holding my breath, and pretty much feeling like a building was lifted off me when I saw dad passed out on the couch with the TV on as I tried shutting the door as quietly as possible.

As much as I _really_ want to run to my room right now... too risky. I wanted to sprint so bad and be at my room like nothing… ugh!

I grit my teeth and started pretty much tip toeing. The door to my room was straight ahead at the end of the hall was pretty much taunting me.

I kept painfully slowly making my way forward until all of a sudden the kitchen light flicked on and I heard, "Practice go late?"

_Crap, crap, crap, crap…_

I tried to keep my cool as I turned and saw mom in her pajamas in the doorway. She leaned in the doorway with her arms crossed and quirked up an eyebrow at me.

_Okay Dash, just play it cool. You got this. _

I just shrugged and said, "Nah, when practice was over me and some of the guys went out to the arcade. Nothing crazy."

It was quiet for a moment as mom said, her tone flat, "You're wearing your letterman jacket?"

"It got a little chilly." I lied smoothly, adding a shrug. Mom gave me this look like she was literally staring right into my soul as she said, "Really? That's interesting since I just had a look at the thermometer and saw it was 78 degrees out."

I openly grit my teeth as I said, starting to walk away, "_Yeah_ mom, as much as I'm enjoying the chat, I'm _really tired _so I think I'm gonna go to my room. Night!"

I tried to go in an all out sprint down the all at my top speed… emphasis on 'tried' as I felt like my stomach was gonna fall out my butt as I felt my arms go to my sides. My arms were pinned to me by what I knew was one of mom's arms wrap around my body like a python.

"HEY!" I yelled on reflex as I felt mom yank me back, practically give me whiplash.

In the background I heard dad wake up, probably since I yelled, as I heard him say, still sounding half asleep from being passed out watching TV, "Huh? Whah happened?!"

Mom pulled me back so she had me right in her face as she used her other hand to pull the snaps open on my letterman jacket, revealing my super-suit that I still had on underneath my jacket and jeans.

That I was _TRYING_ to hide!

"Dash, don't lie! You were in the city a few hours ago, weren't you?" Mom practically growled in my face releasing me as I fell slightly back onto my feet.

"What?" I heard dad say, but I was too mad to pay attention or fully care as I said, growling, "_Mom…_"

I tried to stomp away until mom snaked her way in front of me, looking like she was gonna breathe fire like Jack-Jack can, saying, "Oh no, young man! You aren't getting out of this that easy. Don't think I didn't just see what happened on the news."

"What happened?" Dad said, now demanding and still sounding confused. Mom looked over my shoulder at dad and said, "He went into the city and faced off against Sizemik trying to set off seismic waves to destroy everything. Or _Blue Streak_ over here did."

I rolled my eyes. Last year we were at Edna's since I grew out of my other super-suit so she made me a new one for my birthday and I _FINALLY _got to pick.

Not that I didn't like dad's design that all of us wear, except mom who goes back and forth between that and her Elastigirl suit, but… I wanted something more _me._

So Edna asked me what sort of design I wanted… as long as it was anything that didn't involve a cape.

But, hey, capes to me look stupid anyway and would only get in my way so that was easy. I remembered always liking dad's old school super suit design with the blues and blacks and _that_ was what I wanted. And literally in no time she drew up my suit design and I was all in on it.

It looked AWESOME!

Even the new mask I got that covers more than just my eyes was so cool, makes me feel more aerodynamic.

Then the way she etched these blue and yellow stripe things that looked like lightning bolts going diagonally through the middle of my suit was all I needed.

The first time I went out in my new suit and since I move fast enough so no one could see me, the news started calling me _Blue Streak _since that's all anyone has ever seen of me on video.

Not gonna lie though... I kinda like the sound of it.

"You did?" Dad said, looking almost impressed.

"Bob!" I heard mom said, sounding mad that dad seemed to like what I did. "What? Why do you always assume I'm encouraging him? I just want to know what happened?" My dad said standing up and walking over.

"Look! What's the big deal?! Something bad was happening, so I did something! Just like _you_ taught me to do." I exasperated, just wanting everyone to get off my back.

Right then dad came up saying, "Dash, try to calm down. I understand that..."

"No! I'm sick of constantly being yelled at for doing something that isn't wrong! Supers are legal! So why can't I go out and just use my powers?!"

Mom put a hand on my shoulder as she said, "Dashiell Robert Parr, we talked about this again and again. Yes, Supers were reinstated into legal status 7 years ago, but you know the conditions. A super is allowed to express their abilities as long as they are 18 and older or under adult supervision of another super older than 20. And since you _aren't_ of age you _need_ to be supervised by either myself, your father, Vi, or Lucius. No exceptions."

I grunted in frustration before I started yelling, "UGH! But, it's so unfair! I'm 17, I know what I'm doing! I'm not a little kid! This is so stupid!"

"Dash! Rules are rules! What if someone saw you out there? What if you got caught and someone found out you weren't of age?" Mom practically verbally throws into my face.

"But, no one's ever even seen me out there! I run fast enough so they can't!" I yelled back, even though that wasn't _entirely_ true.

I could tell mom's had it with me still and was going to yell back when we heard, "Why is everyone yelling?"

We all looked over and I saw my 8 year old brother rubbing his eyes. Jack-Jack was in his PJs and holding his stuffed tiger he usually sleeps with every night.

But, since I didn't want Jack-Jack to get in on this and I was _done_, I sighed and said, "It's nothing, Jack."

After that I did what I always wanted to do since I got home… I ran down the hall and slammed my door behind me.

**So, here was the first snip-it chapter. After the sequel came out last year, I just had this itch to write for this amazing franchise that was part of my growing up. But, I just could not think of a good concept and what better concept than a teenage Dash trying to establish himself as his own person and still feels stifled by constrictions from not being a legal adult as just person as well as a super. While Dash is definitely a good natured/caring person with a desire to do good, I just envision Dash's cocky and show-offy personality culminating into a teen that is 10 times that and also in a crave for independence. While he may be a superhero, I want to show that he's still just a normal teenager looking to be his own person and has a normal family dynamic that can get at odds at times. This chapter was just a small taste but I have more ideas drawn up if you all would be interested in seeing more! Thanks you so much for reading and constructive reviews are appreciated as always.**

**Stay Classy!**

**Dexter1995**


	2. Exposition, part 2

**Okay, so after the first teaser chapter, I really wanted to bring in some more exposition and also I just really felt like writing more. So think of this as a part 2. This chapter takes place directly after the first chapter. It's quite a bit longer than the previous chapter so I hope you enjoy a bit of a longer read this time around. Enjoy! :)**

**({No POV})**

Bob walked into the bedroom after tucking Jack-Jack back in and saw Helen laying in bed under the covers and staring up at the ceiling, her arms above the covers and resting on her stomach.

Her whole facial expression radiating an intense state of deep thought as she kept staring at the ceiling.

Bob kept surveying his wife but resolved to slide in bed on his side. He was about to lie down when he decided to look over and ask, "Are you okay, honey?"

A moment passes before Helen closed her eyes and sighed before admitting, "What are we going to do with him, Bob? He just turned 17 a week ago and he's been doing this ever since Edna made him that new suit last year."

Bob pursed his lips, knowing this issue has been upsetting her, before responding, "Well, you just said it. He's 17 and… I was a lot like him at his age. I know what it's like to crave that freedom to work on your own."

Helen gave Bob a look, making Bob put his hands up and reply in defense, "Hey, I'm not saying I like what he's doing either. I'm only saying that I understand where he's coming from. Besides it's not like Dash is a bad kid."

"And that's also part of the problem, Bob. Dash _isn't_ a bad kid. Honestly… he's a really good kid. All our kids are good kids. But Dash, he's… Ugh, but he's just so cocky, so overconfident, and _so_ stubborn. No matter what we tell him about waiting until he's 18 to go out by himself, he just won't relent! Grounding doesn't do anything. I'm just afraid he's going to do something stupid to get caught and thrown in jail or worse hurt… or even killed!"

Helen flung her hands to her face in motherly frustration and concern.

Bob hesitated for a moment.

Even though as a father he shared many of his wife's concerns about what their son was doing, but he knew further adding to it wasn't going to help.

Slowly he put a hand on Helen's shoulder and said, "I know, honey. We're just going to have to find a way to keep a closer watch on him."

"How, Bob? He goes off and does things in the city when we aren't even around? Not to mention his powers don't help since they practically aid him to get there and back faster than either of us can manage in any vehicle. We'd practically need a military grade jet to keep up with him now." Helen replies, still sounding incredibly frustrated, as Bob replied back in a similar tone, "I don't know?!... We'll…. We'll figure it out."

After that he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek before lying down and turning off the lamp on his nightstand.

_**3 hours later**_

Bob was fast asleep, letting out the occasional loud snore.

Helen; however, was still awake but her husband's snores were not the cause. Her mind was still going a million miles an hour.

She took one long glance toward her husband before stretching herself to slink out bed without disturbing her husband's deep sleep.

Helen walked lightly on her toes as stealthily as possible as she made her way out into the hallway. She looked to her right and saw the door to Jack-Jack's room cracked open slightly, faint orange light from underneath the door.

She peeked into the room and saw Jack-Jack in a deep sleep with his mouth half open and his arm clutched around his stuffed tiger like usual, night light on in the corner of the room.

Helen smiled slightly as she shut the door. Then she looked at the end of the hall.

A red door decked out in several football posters:

_Dash's room._

Helen cautiously approached the door and hesitated at the doorknob. She looked over her shoulder before grabbing the knob and turning it, peering into the room as she did so.

She looked in and scrunched her nose for a second at the smell of _teenage boy aroma _and _smelly football equipment._ She recomposed her expression as she glanced around, seeing her oldest son's room surprisingly clean aside from the _stale odor_.

She then looked over at her son's bed, looking completely untouched. She scrunched her eyes together for a completely different reason.

_Dash snuck out… again._

Helen sighed to herself in frustration.

She looked determined for a moment and looked like she was about to run after him when she froze. She looked hesitant. As much as she wanted to go after Dash and ask him to come home… she knew it wasn't a smart move shortly after an argument.

She bit her lip as she thought.

Her eyes closing before opening, a clear thought reflected in them.

Helen walked to the phone in the kitchen and looked at the clock and saw it was 30 minutes to midnight. She hesitated before dialing a number.

The dial tone went off several moments before it cut and Violet asked in a confused tone, wondering who was calling late, "Hello?"

"Vi, sweetie, it's me." Helen said, smiling to herself a little.

"Oh, hi mom!... What's going on? Is everything okay?" Violet said, sounding slightly concern.

Helen was quick to respond as she said, "No, no. Everything's okay… Sorry, if I woke you up."

"Oh no, I was up. Actually I just got home. Tony and I had a date night but he had to go home after since he's opening tomorrow at the restaurant." Violet explained, making Helen smile a little.

Violet moved to an apartment in the city with some friends when she went off to college in the city and has been living the life of a very regular college student.

Classes, roommates, part-time job, and most recently… engagement.

Violet and Tony's relationship had gotten off to a _strange_ start due to Violet's initial _reluctance_ and then that being followed by the _memory wipe_ fiasco prior to their original first date. But, ever since that follow up date to the movies, Tony and Violet have been dating all through high school, college, and about 3 months ago announced they were engaged.

But, Helen and Bob were happy to see their daughter enjoying her life and they had no complaints about Tony since they had nothing to dislike about him since everyone thought he was a nice guy, and he knows about Violet and the whole family being supers now and has no problem with it.

Also, the fact that he's good at keeping a secret was definitely a virtue they appreciated.

Helen decided not to jump right in and decided to make a bit of small talk since it had been awhile since they had time to talk as she inquired subtly, "I'd guess Saturdays would be busy for the Rydinger's. What did you do tonight? Dinner and a movie?"

"Actually they had a dinner and dance type party at the student union. It was only $5 a person as long as you reserved your spot. It was fun!" Violet commented.

Helen smiled a little again as she finally grounded her expression enough to ask, "That's great, honey! Listen… could you do me a favor before you go to bed?"

Violet was silent for a moment before replying, her tone with an obvious hesitancy to it, "Oh-kay? What is it?"

Helen sighed as she started, "Its Dash."

_**Across town**_

**(Dash's POV)**

I looked at the streets below and kept walking back and forth on the rooftop.

_UGH… I'm still mad!_ _I just can't..._

"Fancy seeing you here?"

I whipped my head around until I relaxed when I saw Violet. Although seeing her in a super-suit after 3 years… more surprising than seeing her here.

"_Fancy_ seeing you out in a super-suit?" I said back, just as dry.

Violet just shrugged at me as she said, "Fair."

We were silent for a little bit until she said, "Dash, just… what are you doing? Why are you even out here?" "Well, why are _you_ here?" I spat, _totally_ knowing where this was going.

Violet crossed her arms and gave me a look as she said, "To stop you from doing anything stupid." "Don't… you… dare…" I ground out through my teeth, wishing everyone would just leave me alone.

"Dash, listen. What you're doing is like driving a car without a license. It's _illegal_!" She says, sounding totally annoyed.

"Oh, don't give me that stupid _its like_ _driving a car_ thing. UGH! You're just as bad as mom! I'm tired of people telling me how or when I'm allowed to use my powers! I'm not a kid! I know what I'm doing!" I yell, fed up with everyone telling me what to do as I got in her face.

"Dash, stop being a turd and listen! I get you want more freedom! Seriously. But, you could go to jail or get seriously in trouble getting caught doing what you're doing! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO SAY IT?!" She practically shouts in my face.

It was silent and I'm pretty sure if we both had Jack-Jack's laser eyes we would be burning holes in each other's heads right now. I was just so pissed off and frustrated that I didn't even want to look at her.

I was _done_ as I said, "Just leave me alone, Vi."

It went dead quiet again before I heard Violet sigh and say, "Okay, if you want to keep being like that? _Fine._ But, whenever you're ready to stop acting like a narcissistic, idiotic jerk… I'll be waiting."

I heard her walk away and I glanced behind me to see her gone. That or she turned invisible too.

_Ugh… whatever… I wish everyone would just get off my back._

**({No POV})**

Dash was looking back down to the streets, kicking a few stray pebbles on the roof out of frustration. However, none of the previous activity went unnoticed.

A shadowy figure in the distance clenched their fist and let out an intrigued, "_Hmm…_"

_**3 days later**_

**(Dash's POV)**

_Ugh… stupid Trigonometry. _

I've been looking at this same stupid problem on my homework for _forever_. And I've never been good at math.

The only reason why I really try hard at it is to make sure I have good enough grades to play sports and also so I don't get _lectured_ at home by mom and dad. I rolled my eyes as I kept gripping my hand into my hair, pretty much wanting to rip my hair out at this stupid triangle... and cuz of _other stuff._

Right as I wanted to rip my homework to pieces on the library table I was sitting at, I saw a pencil come in front of me and a hand with a wrist loaded in woven wristbands and bracelets going up her forearms.

Then quietly I heard, "Just use Pythagorean theorem."

I didn't need to look up to know who it was, but I just sat there staring at "A^2+B^2=C^2" being written on my paper.

My eyes were wide as I put the numbers where they were supposed to go, remembering when we learned that forever ago in like 7th grade. I went through the problem and _FINALLY_ got it.

I turned back to say 'thanks' but… nothing.

She was gone... Well not gone, but she was far away in the furthest table from anyone else in the library.

Remember when I said to mom how no one's ever seen me out in my super-suit out on my own?

Well… _one_ person saw me.

_**7 months ago**_

**({No POV})**

A car flipped over in the street as Sizemik, a young yet powerful villain with the power to manipulate seismic waves into wreaking havoc on the city in order to attain whatever he wants, raged through.

His yellow and green suit fully making him stand out as he walked through the streets. Thrusting a fist into the air as he concentrated on cars and laughing when he saw them get launched into the air from shifting the ground and land upside down or completely destroying other cars.

One particular car narrowly missed a group of nearby civilians who scrambled before running away in terror.

"Oh c'mon! Leaving so soon?" He starts in his taunt from under his helmet that fully covered his face, "I'm just getting warmed up!"

He looked down the long stretch of road before raising his hands and then clapping them together. There was a rumble before the street split down the middle in a jagged fashion before up heaving, causing pipes to burst and structures to collapse.

Sizemik chuckled when he noticed a bank nearby fall to his actions and started striding toward it. He continued to make his way over until he noticed a familiar _blue streak_ of a blur he remembered all too well closing in from the distance.

Not that Sizemik ever personally saw him, but he knew who was coming.

The media named hero, _Blue Streak_ "aka Dash".

As vain in his abilities as he was, Sizemik knew his _track record_ with Blue Streak wasn't the best and would rather avoid the situation of getting the crap kicked out of him by someone he can't even see, so… he decided to _avoid _said problem.

Immediately Sizemik saw a civilian walking out of an untouched book store in the direction where Dash was coming from.

Sizemik smirked wickedly to himself under his helmet as he said deviously to himself, "This outta keep _Blur Boy_ busy."

He snapped his fingers and a semi truck was catapulted off the shifting ground and flipped through the air.

The civilian, a high school aged girl with wavy rusty brown hair pulled back in a ponytail with a few stray strands hanging in her light green eyes that were trained on a book, was oblivious to what was happening around her.

It wasn't until gravity was pulling the semi truck back down to Earth and she was engulfed in its shadow that she noticed it.

Her whole body locked up in shock as her joints buckled and the book she just purchased inevitably dropped to the sidewalk.

**(Dash's POV)**

He's right there… he's… _CRAP!_

I saw some girl just standing there as a truck was about to come down on her.

_Hey, what the… Seriously?! MOVE!_

They still weren't moving so I grit my teeth and ran as fast as I could before pretty much tackling her out of the way. Well, I wrapped one arm around their body and my other I put higher so I could protect their head as I practically launched us into an alley like mom and dad taught me when saving people.

We landed and I heard the semi truck explode behind us.

Even though I felt kinda good about what I did… this ruined everything!

If _sleeping beauty _over here didn't freeze up, I could've stopped Sizemik!

I was so pissed as I looked up at her and started, "Hey, what the…" I was about to yell at her and ask if she was either crazy or totally stupid or both when…

_Wait, Melanie? Melanie Frickowski? _

I know her!

Well, _kinda_ know her.

At least I've been in school with her since we were in 6th grade when our elementary schools merged in junior high.

She kept staring at me and… I just kept staring at her too. I didn't know what to do?! I've never saved someone I actually kinda knew before other than my family!

Honestly, for me, saving total strangers is WAY easier than saving people you kinda know to be honest.

Probably cuz at least strangers don't know who I am when I'm not being a super

Sure we aren't friends or even really talk at school or anything, but… I felt weird. Yeah, I'm wearing my mask to protect my secret identity but… I mean, WHAT IF SHE KNOWS ITS ME?! I got kinda freaked out as I quickly stood up and lifted her up to stand in front of me.

I even made my voice deeper to try to sound different as I said, "Are you alright, Me-miss?"

I felt like smacking my head against the brick wall next to me for almost slipping up by almost calling her by her name like an idiot.

_SERIOUSLY DASH?! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET CAUGHT?! I'm so screwed_.

But, luckily she just nodded as she crossed her arms and said, "Y-yeah… thanks."

I was too freaked out to do anything as I decided to cut this short before I do anything else stupid to make her realize who I am.

"No problem." I said, trying to make my voice deep again, even though I just realized how stupid I sounded right now.

I tried not to think about it as I ran off trying to catch up and find Sizemik.

_**Present day**_

But, weirdly… that's not the first time she's done this with me. '

And there's a reason why I say weird.

Hey, I've got nothing against Melanie. But, straight up... man, she's just _so _weird. At least for as long as I've known her, but according to everyone else who knew her said she's always been like this, like since Kindergarten.

Melanie's always been _really _quiet, anti-social, and a _total_ loner.

She never talks to anyone and even though it sounds _really_ sad… I don't think she has any friends.

All she does is read all the time and whenever she is around other people, like in class or in the hall during passing periods, she pretty much avoids being near anyone and everyone as much as possible.

I'm not even kidding.

I literally see her _constantly_ with her hands folded together or crossing her arms, keeping her head down. It's almost like she doesn't even want to look at or even touch anyone either.

One time I saw her almost bump into someone during passing period and she practically almost juked around this guy better than most running backs _just_ to avoid touching him.

It's SO weird, man.

But… it kinda sucks too.

She used to get bullied a lot in junior high. Look, I think she's weird too as much as the next guy, but… I hate bullies. And it only got worse when Debbie Edmunds was just _on her_ all the time in 7th and 8th grade.

And one time… I couldn't take it.

_**4 years ago**_

**({No POV})**

Dash walked out of the boys locker room, gym being his last class of the day, and started to make his way out to his locker.

He was turning the corner as he saw Melanie with her back against the wall under the staircase as Debbie and 2 other girls were laughing at her.

Debbie smirked as she taunted, "What's wrong? Are we getting _too close_? _Oh no! I'm Melanie and I can't touch anyone or I'll flip!_"

The girls all laughed and one even started shoving Melanie on the shoulder and Melanie looked horrifyingly uncomfortable and tried to get away as she shut her eyes, looking like the epitome of distressed as she grit her teeth and shut her eyes even tighter, practically demanding, "PLEASE STOP!"

"Or what, huh? What are you gonna do, _freak_? Or should I say _Freak-kowski!_" "Nice one, Deb!" The girl to Debbie's left said, high fiving Debbie and the group all started laughing uncontrollably now.

Melanie, who looked like she wanted to phase out of existence and… almost looked like she was in pain, put her back fully to the wall and slid down to the floor.

Dash practically clenched his fists as he practically demanded, looking angry, "Will you guys lay off?"

At that moment everyone turned to look at Dash, looking initially shocked, including Melanie. Debbie turned to Dash and said, turning her _mean girl_ energy back on, "Oh look, _Freak-kowski's_ got a boyfriend."

Dash had to fight his face from going red in embarrassment at being pulled into this. But, he was too angry to just take that as he said, just getting to the point, "Debbie… just go away already!"

After a couple moments of silence, Debbie rolled her eyes and said, "Fine! Whatever, let's go."

After Debbie and her friends walked past Dash, Melanie was just sitting in a fetal position with her hands on the top of her head, looking like she was still trying to get herself together.

Dash tilted his head.

Even though he didn't totally understand what that was all about… he still felt pretty bad for her.

He walked a little closer as he said, trying to keep it cool, "Just forget them… hey, you okay?"

Dash took another step closer and reached out to give her a hand up like he'd do for a teammate in football.

But, Dash jumped back when Melanie immediately put her hands out in front of her and scrambled away from him until she finally got to her feet from the floor as she said, sounding skittish and almost frantic, "Fine!... I'm Fine! Thanks!"

After that she crossed her arms tight in front of her and spirited away, leaving Dash there with the most confused expression on his face.

_**Present day**_

Worst part about that is that Debbie kept calling her '_Freak-kowski'_ and now that's all everyone ever calls her.

Yeah, again, I think she's weird too like everyone else thinks but... that's just low.

At least the only good thing is that most people just leave her alone now. And I think that's _weirdly_ what Melanie wants.

But, it's still _so _weird.

Ever since that happened she's done_ nice_ things for me sometimes. Mainly helping me with my homework totally out of nowhere like she did just now.

Again, weird but… its cool, I guess?

I still think about it though just cuz it's kinda freaky.

I mean, she probably just has the worst social anxiety ever or something. But… why didn't she freak out after I grabbed her and tackled her out of the way a few months ago?

I shook my head as I tried to finish my last math problem right as the bell rang.

**Okay, so I hope this fills out a bit more of Dash's dynamic with having a bit more of a rebellious streak when it comes to his family being against him going out on his own for obvious reasons, but Dash is just stubborn and bent on having that independence that it's affecting and straining his family dynamic in a way. But, I also was trying to reinforce that Dash is still that good person but just a good person going through a bit of a **_**phase**_**. And as you may have noticed… quite a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter. However all will be explained eventually. ;) Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to read and constructive reviews are always appreciated. Happy 4th of July!**

**Stay Classy and have a safe weekend!**

**Dexter1995 **


	3. Leads

**Long time no see! Just another update since I finally found time after work to write. This chapter picks up a couple days after the previous one. Enjoy!**

**({No POV})**

It was Saturday morning and the Parrs were doing their usual weekend morning routine. Which surprisingly for a family of supers was relatively ordinary.

Helen and Bob were eating pancakes and drinking coffee together in the kitchen while Jack Jack sat down cross legged with his eyes glued to their living room TV watching his Saturday morning cartoons in his pajamas while finishing the last of his orange juice.

Helen poked her head through to check on him when all of a sudden her eyes went wide as she said, "Jack Jack… no telekinesis in the house, young man."

Jack Jack snapped out of his _cartoon trance, _almost as if he realized he accidentally made the TV float in midair by accident since he was so focused on his show that he immediately let it float back down to the floor.

He looked back at his mother, looking childishly apologetic, as he said, "Sorry!"

Helen just smiled as she gave him a nod, feeling internally grateful that at least _one _of her sons seemed to listen to her. Helen's head whipped down the hall to see Dash's door still shut tight.

"Dash still isn't up yet?" Bob asked, looking over the newspaper he was reading before taking a sip of his coffee.

"No… not yet." Helen said, looking at the clock in their kitchen showing it was almost 10 am now.

She sat down at the kitchen table and looked to her husband. Looking like she was about to say something when… a door opened.

They heard what almost sounded like shuffling down the hallway carpet until Dash, still looking half asleep as he trudged into the kitchen. His normally slicked back and generally well kept hair was in a state of disarray as it shot out in several different directions with heavy looking eyes and his mouth hanging open slightly.

He hardly acknowledged anything as he took a plate out of the cabinet and then proceed to pile a stack of almost 25 pancakes on it and poured syrup over the top and added a _modest _side of 15 strips of bacon. As if that wasn't enough, he also went to the fruit basket on the counter and took an apple and banana. He then proceeded to pour himself a cup of coffee, still in his trance of a stupor from waking up.

"Morning son." Bob said, attempting to start a conversation. Dash mumbled vaguely what Bob deciphered to be, _"Morning."_

Bob looked at his wife and saw her looking like she wanted to say something until Dash walked out with a literal _balanced _yet extreme breakfast that he complied back to his room.

But, with Dash's powers combined with being a teenager, his super speed isn't the only thing super about him since his metabolism burns calories 5 times faster than any normal human being and even most supers.

So, Bob and Helen definitely are always conscious to keep food stock piled or else Dash would just eat literally everything.

But Bob, remembering his _hefty appetite _as a teenage boy with super powers, is definitely quite understanding while Helen still has a hard time comprehending how Dash is physically able to eat all that food in one sitting.

As of now; however, that wasn't what was on her mind about her son at the moment. Bob was reading the paper and was mid-sip on his cup of coffee until he realized his wife was now looking at him.

"What?" Bob questioned with a quirked up eyebrow and tone of voice filled with confusion.

"Bob, don't you think you're being a little too lenient on Dash?" Helen said straight out.

Bob suddenly closed his newspaper and gave his wife a part incredulous-part confused-part angry. "What makes you say that?" Bob inquired, sounding as offended as he looked.

"Look, I'm only saying that because you're making me seem like the lone disciplinarian here with him since all you seem to do is come up with excuses to…" "I'm _NOT _making excuses for him!" Bob ground out through his teeth, trying to keep his voice down to avoid attracting attention to himself from their sons.

Well, mostly to avoid disturbing Jack Jack.

Helen leaned in with an intense expression on her face as she said, also trying to keep her voice down, "Then what is it, Bob?! Why do you keep just glossing over his recklessness?!"

"I DON'T!" Bob almost snarled as he crushed the coffee cup into shards with his bare hand.

But, it was almost like that started to make them snap out of it as they also heard from the living room, "Dad… mom… is something wrong?"

"No, no sweetie. Nothing's wrong. Sorry. Just keep watching your cartoons, okay?" Helen said quickly.

Though that seemed to pacify their youngest son as he immediately resumed his cartoon viewing.

It was silent between Bob and Helen as Helen said, "Sorry, honey. It's just that Dash… Bob, he is so much like how you used to be when I first met you. Just the _overconfidence_ and the _I work alone_ attitude and… it just makes me nervous."

"No, no. I'm sorry too. But, I just want you to understand. Trying to _control_ Dash or be on his case is only gonna make things worse. Like I said, I don't know how… but we'll just have to find a better way to watch out for him somehow. Trust me, if Buddy Pine taught me anything, its that if a teenager senses a little _belittling _or _throwing aside _of any kind… it can turn into a _huge _problem later. I'll figure out something!... I promise." Bob explained, running a hand through his hair.

Meanwhile Helen in her mind was just hoping he was right.

_**Later that night**_

**(Dash's POV)**

I kept looking around from the rooftops, trying to find some action.

Ever since I caught Sizemik again and got him locked up, it's been… _dead_. Pretty much scarily quiet for the past week almost. The most physical stuff I've done this week was painfully holding back on the football field and its sucked.

Crime fighting just lets me let loose with my powers better than anything.

I kept scanning below until all of a sudden… I heard a huge _BANG_ from several blocks over along with a few screams. Immediately I started sprinting and hurdling across the rooftops.

_Finally something!_

I got to the edge of this building and saw a huge hole blown through the side of the first floor of the bank in what looked to be one of the high security vaults. There was still smoke and I tried to used that to my advantage as I whipped through it and made it inside unseen.

I got ready to fight until… _What the?_

No one was here.

I was expecting to see some crooks filling bags with gold bars and cash but… nothing? Zip, zero, zilch, nuthin'. I kept looking around trying to figure out what even happened.

There were drawers opened in the vault that were already cleaned out. But that wasn't the only thing that looked clean. There was nothing here! Everything looked clean except for the debris from when the wall blew up. "Man, what the…" I stopped when I heard footsteps and immediately shot into the alley outside behind a dumpster that smelled totally rank.

But, I bit back as I heard people talking inside, probably police by the way they were talking.

It sounded like they we looking around for the next 15 minutes until I heard them start talking at the point that I was gonna almost hurl from the dumpster smell.

"Find anything, Ray? Cuz I got nuthin." I heard one guy with an annoying nasally voice say.

Then I heard a guy with a deeper voice come back with, "Nah Jerry. I keep looking around the room but other than the debris… I can't find anything. No obvious foot or fingerprints that we can detect. Hell there's not even clues as to how they got in or out?! No tools, no evidence of tools. That drawer over there looks like it was melted clean through for gosh sakes! I haven't seen any robbery remotely close to something like this since…"

"Aaaaaannnnd, here you go with your old crack pot _theories_ from back in the day and how they remind you of stuff on cases now." The nasally voiced officer taunted, snorting at the end at the other one.

"Jerry, I'm telling you! I haven't seen a robbery remotely close to this since…" "Uh, sorry to interrupt, fellas. But, we got something. The security cameras were blown out too. You need to have a look at this." I heard someone else say as the other two cops followed him, or it sounded like it since I heard walking.

I slowly stepped out, almost feeling like a bus got lifted off me as I bolted out of there so fast I was able to run straight up the building at the end of the alley. I got up to the top and slide down the side of the generator I found until I was sitting and threw my head back.

_Man that was WAY too close!_

I would've been so screwed if those cops caught me. But, mostly it would've sucked if they found me and then mom and dad found out. I mean, yeah I didn't steal anything but I'm still _underage_ cuz of the superhero reinstatement act.

So STUPID!

I slammed my fist on the roof so hard I actually left a divot.

Hey, at least I'm not super strong like dad or I would have totally busted through the roof and gotten even more screwed right now. But, I'm cool. I got away with it and no one caught me looking around back there.

Also… what the heck was that back there?! I just heard that explosion and I can run faster than pretty much anything I can think of! So how the heck were they able to steal all that stuff and leave that bank vault pretty much clean? Not gonna lie though, it's about time!

All I've had lately is Sizemik doing annoying and stupid stuff and he's always WAY too easy for me to catch, bout time something interesting finally started happening! No one gets away from _the Dash_ twice. Just you wait!

I got this.

**I know this was pretty short, but this was more of a bridge chapter to help build up to the later events of the story. I hope you all enjoyed reading and constructive feedback/reviews are always very much appreciated. Hope you all are having a great new year so far and I'll return with an update as soon as I possibly can.**

**Stay Classy!**

**Dexter1995**


	4. Addition

**Hello everyone! This chapter takes place 2 weeks after the previous one. Hope you all enjoy!**

**({No POV})**

It was a usual afternoon in Mr. Jacobson's history class.

He took a piece of chalk and started to write out _The War of 1812_ on the black board behind him as he started, "Alright, now that we concluded our unit on life in the early years of the United States and I mentioned this briefly last week, can anyone tell me who was president going into the war of 1812?"

He looked over his shoulder to find the usual students raising their hands, as well as the usual ones avoiding to make eye contact so they wouldn't be picked on to answer.

He kept scanning the room until he saw Dash, sitting in the middle of it all at his desk, scanning his eyes rather intently and making notes on something, at least that's what it seemed he was doing to his teacher.

However, it didn't look like he was paying attention to anything that was just said either as Mr. Jacobson crossed his arms and said, "Dash, would you like to answer?"

The class stopped as they all turned back to look at Dash, who still didn't respond.

"Dash?" Mr. Jacobson repeated, slightly louder and also slightly more annoyed. Dash stopped and looked up to have his eyes go wide a little as he saw the whole room staring at him as he responded, sounding caught off guard, "Um… what?"

Mr. Jacobson quirked up an eyebrow as he leaned against the clean area of the blackboard behind him, some students snickering to themselves.

He gave Dash a slight look with a raised eyebrow before saying, "I was asking if you knew who the president was at the beginning of the War of 1812?"

"Uhh…" Dash stumbled, knowing he'd been caught not paying attention.

**(Dash's POV)**

_Ah… crap._

Everyone kept looking at me and I knew just by looking at Jacobson that he wasn't gonna let me slide out of this.

_Ah c'mon! Why can't I remember?! He said this guy's name last week!_

I gripped a hand into my hair and grit my teeth as I saw Stanley Quinn and Bridget Carmichael pretty much spazzing out in the front to get picked to answer since both of them are total _know it alls_.

_Ugh! Will he just pick one of those to nerds already and get off my back?! I don't know! _

"Uh… gjjjjjj…. George Washington?" I totally knew I was wrong and Mr. Jacobson's face told me without him even saying anything yet.

"Close, but James Madison was the president I was looking for. Now how about you stop working on homework for other classes during mine so you can focus and we'll forget about it this time." He said, giving me _that_ look again. And hey as much as I hate it, he was right.

Well… kinda.

I wasn't paying attention to anything but I wasn't doing homework for another class. But, I knew I was busted as I took the map and shoved it in my backpack as I said, "Sorry."

That seemed to do it since he turned his back and started writing on the blackboard again.

After that incident at that bank almost 2 weeks ago, it's happened 3 more times.

No matter how fast I try to get there or figure out their patterns they keep escaping me. But, all 4 of those times happened in the same week. And so far this week has been a total snore fest, which I guess is okay?

Mom, dad and Lucius were starting to catch on to it with what they've been hearing from the news. So, I'm deciding to be one step ahead.

I got a map of the city and circled all the banks and crossed out the ones that were already robbed.

That's what I was working on right now.

Like maybe if I try to see where those other banks are that it could clue me in on where they're gonna go next? But… man, its like its random or something.

Nothing about this is adding up. I don't even know who's doing it?!

It's just the same thing happens every freaking time!

I hear something blow up, I get there, I see a HUGE hole blown into the wall, and then I look in and just see the whole place cleaned out and no one's there!

Well… not _every time._

_**Last week**_

_C'mon Dash! You got this!_

I'm only 12 blocks from it! They're not getting away this time!

I kept following the dust from the rubble that got kicked up from the explosion. I screeched to a halt for a split second as I saw two shadowy figures pause for a second to look at me before rounding a corner in the alley.

I smirked to myself.

_Gotcha! _

I took off and was at the end of the alley in a fraction of a second, but…

_Huh? _

I kept looking around. Nothing? There was nothing except a couple of trash cans.

"What the?... Where did?... UGH!" I pounded my fist against the brick wall next to me so hard it actually kinda dented the brick and also kinda hurt my hand a little bit and I would've cared more if I wasn't so pissed.

_They got away… AGAIN?! HOW?! I have super speed! How could they get away?! Can they walk through walls or something?! _

I felt like I was actually going crazy as I kept stomping around pulling at my hair before yelling and kicking a trash can full force.

I almost forgot about where I was and I heard people behind me coming to check out what was happening.

I snapped out of it as I took a couple steps back before running at full speed up the wall to get the heck out of there so I didn't get caught there, for many different reasons.

_**Present day**_

Seriously! I'm still pissed about that!

It's like I'm trying to find ghosts or something?! Next time I swear they are NOT gonna get away. Once I figure out where they're hitting up next, they won't know what hit 'em once _Blue Streak_ shows up.

Just wait!

_**2 days later**_

I kept scanning all over with a pair of binoculars for the past 2 nights like some kind of creepy peeping Tom... and _nothing_.

Why am I not surprised at this point?! Every time I got it together… NOTHING HAPPENS?!

And look at me! I'm literally scanning the city with binoculars like an old person bird watching at the park. But the only things I've seen are cars, pedestrians, and some weird group of middle-aged people I saw through a window standing around having a party in their underwear for some reason when I was scanning over this apartment one second too long.

I pretty much shuddered when I thought about it again and making me know for sure that will totally scar me for the rest of my life. Just saying, this city's full of more weirdos than just criminals.

I shook my head and shoulders out to try and forget, emphasis on try.

I kept scanning over the sidewalks until I scanned up quickly to avoid seeing something else that will haunt my dreams for all eternity when I got to the roof.

_But… wait._

I refocused on this dark figure I saw in the distance on another rooftop. I mean, not a huge deal. There are people who come up to the roofs to work on maintenance and stuff.

But… I don't think this person does maintenance as I got kind of a closer look.

Although I think they could tell I was getting, or at least trying, to get a closer look since right as I was refocusing my binoculars on them, they whipped they're head back at me before they took off running and leaped over to the next rooftop as they kept going.

I don't know what was up with me but I watched as they kept going until they got to this huge gap with a HUGE drop off between the 2 buildings.

_Are they nuts?! They're gonna die!_

I scrunched my eyebrows together and grit my teeth as I took off running.

I got to the right point to try and catch them, but… _Wait, hold up. What the?! _

I just saw the figure just start almost floating down towards me and as they got closer I finally got a better look at them.

Wait, who's she?!

She looked like she was almost the same age as me, dressed in a black jumpsuit with silver gloves and silver streaks running across the legs, shoulders and back.

She had long black hair that looked like it was being held up by and almost weaved into something that looked like a… wait? _Mask? They're wearing a mask? Are they a super?_

I mean, yeah they're in a super-suit but that doesn't mean they're _actually _a superhero if the whole _Syndrome thing_ with dad taught me anything. And that goes for A LOT.

But, it also seems like she has powers of some kind? I mean, duh, she's literally hovering off the roof right in front of me and almost giggling to herself until I realized she looked like she was laughing at me, which only made more more confused and I could feel my face go red which was completely embarrassing.

But, luckily my mask covers a lot of my face to hide my total embarrassment as I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on right now?!

She stopped giggling as she opened her eyes and looked at me before saying, her voice catching me off guard, "Trying to save me, hmm? That's so… _chivalrous_. But, I can assure you that I don't need saving. As you can see."

Her accent was hard for me to figure out.

She definitely had one though since she didn't sound like she was from here.

I mean, she speaks really clear English but she _totally _has a little bit of an accent. Like European or something? No idea.

She touched down on the roof and looked at me with these sleek light gray eyes that seemed to stand out in the dark. And just being honest here this girl is… _whoa_.

Trust me, I'm not the kinda guy that totally gets lame over girls but… man, she's a total babe.

Seriously, I can't tell entirely what she looks like since most of her face and body is covered like mine. But, ya know, from _what I can see_, if you told me she was a model or something I'd totally believe it.

She was lean but athletic and… tall. Not as tall as me but she was close.

She walked a little closer to me and I froze up a little as she smirked at me before saying, "But, I bet any girl you ever saved probably didn't mind. Huh, _Blue Streak_?"

My eyes went wide as I gave her this look.

_She knows who I am?!_

I scrunched my eyes and shook my head before giving her this look and crossing my arms while saying, trying to gain control of whatever was happening, "So… how do you know me? Cuz I don't know you or ever seen you around here before."

She let out what to me sounded like some kind of scoff mixed with a laugh as she said, "Well, it is pretty obvious. Especially seeing you _in action_ just now. And you are right, you could say I'm _new in town._"

I was still trying not to look like an idiot, as I said, "So, who are you then? What do you want?"

Hey, I may think this chick is hot, but it's not like I trust her or anything.

She laughed again before saying, her hands on her hips, "Why do you need to know? A girl can't just hang out and mind her own business?"

I gave her a look again before saying, "Well, I know most of the superheroes in the city and I've never seen you before. Also, jumping off buildings is _hanging out?_"

She smirked and shrugged before pretty much admitting, "Fair. While we're asking questions though and pointing out the obvious, you look _younger _than what I thought."

She was giving me a look at the end of it that made me feel like my stomach was going to fall out of my butt. I could tell she knew I was either _underage_ or if I wasn't, I probably just turned 18.

Although me being an idiot and looking kinda shocked in front of her totally gave it away.

_Ah crud, she totally knows._

"Hey look, I…" She started laughing a little again before saying, "Don't worry, hun. I'm a lot of things but _trust me._ I'm not a snitch."

Weirdly I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me, but… I'm also totally suspicious. I crossed my arms and gave her a look as I pointed out, "Look thanks, but what are you trying get out of this with me right now?"

She laughed a little before smirking at me again and saying, almost like she was _messing around_ or something, "Oh, so serious? Believe me, right now I'm just having a little fun with you. You need to loosen up a little."

She brushed her fingers over my shoulder that made a shiver go up my spine and made me stand straighter on contact as I whipped my head over to keep watching her.

I tried to clear my throat but she beat me to it as she said, "But seriously though, your secret's safe with me. I was out using my powers on my own too _way _before I was 18 and I'm almost 19. And why? Well… because I don't care. I do _what _I want… _when_ I want."

_Wait… 19? _

She was starting to walk closer to me again and I just froze up.

I have no idea what's happening right now. I mean I kinda like it in some really weird way, but still… I snapped out of it when I heard a weird beeping sound and saw her look at this thing that looked like a watch on her wrist.

She pressed something on it and said, "Well, as much as I'm enjoying the conversation, I'm heading out. But, same time same place tomorrow?"

She threw a wink my way before walking away and I smirked as I said, remembering, "Hey, I never got a name?" She stopped at the edge of the building before looking over her shoulder at me.

She had a slight smirk on her face as she said, "For all intensive purposes, to you… it's Nova."

After she said that she held her right hand off to the side and I had to stop myself from flinching as I saw this bright ball show up in her hand like Lucius does with ice.

But, this wasn't ice and it didn't even look like fire.

It… it almost looked like… the sun?

Seriously it's like she was holding a tiny sun in her hand the size of a tennis ball! Sure Violet can make force fields and turn invisible and Jack Jack can make copies of himself, shoot lasers out of his eyes, and light himself on fire… but man, I've never seen anything this before.

After that she smirked as she closed her hand around the sun to extinguish it before she dove out of sight.

I stumbled back a little bit as I rubbed the back of my neck.

_Okay, not exactly what I was looking for tonight, but… I'm not complaining either._ _I'll see what this girl's deal is._

**Well, I won't elaborate too much, but let's just say that this is where the story REALLY** **begins. ;) Next chapter will contain more information on the **_**latest addition **_**plus much more! As always, please don't be shy about leaving a constructive review or messaging me here. Or even if you have questions, don't be afraid to ask! Feedback always helps and is very much appreciated. Have a lovely weekend!**

**Stay classy!**

**Dexter1995**


	5. Reaction

**New chapter finally! It took a bit but consider this a late Valentine from me to all of you. Hope you all had a safe and fun holiday and hope you enjoy the update! This chapter begins the morning after the previous one.**

**({No POV})**

Helen was making breakfast for herself in the kitchen and Jack Jack was already sitting at the table eating his bowl of cereal in his pajamas.

It was a school day so it was still relatively early but Helen started to get worried and slightly annoyed as she looked down the hall at Dash's still shut door.

Bob was already gone on an assignment advocating for super heroes so it was just her at home with the boys.

While supers were made legal again, it didn't mean the entire public has just _whole-heartedly _accepted people with superpowers overnight. So the few remaining super heroes from the _peak generation _that weren't wiped out by Syndrome, all take turns going out on assignments orchestrated by the governmental groups to try to help mainstream superheroes in society again.

So Bob was out for the next 3 days as Mr. Incredible doing a series of speeches and community activism events.

And while Bob doesn't mind and enjoys it, he still would rather be out combating criminals again in a perfect situation like he did in his prime.

But, Helen on the other hand is thankful for this, something both her and Honey completely agree on respectively when it comes to their husbands these days.

As Helen always says, while Bob may have super strength and physical durability, he is still now an early middle aged man that is far from invincible and Helen concedes the same about herself.

As capable as she is still, she admits that doing those assignments for Dev Tech just 7 years ago was far more strenuous and tiring at her age than it was for her when she was a young woman in her prime as a superhero.

So, Helen was thankful for both her and Bob to have this opportunity to be out in public using their powers, just in a different way.

Also, it pays well and allows them the opportunity to be at home a lot together and be with the kids.

Helen kept looking down the hall before she decided to call out, thinking Dash was still sleeping, "Dash! Wake up, you're going to be late for…!"

"Hey mom. What's up?"

She whipped her head behind her and saw Dash, washed and dressed and eating a bowl of cereal in rapid time like he usually does. But this time, he looked fully awake and shockingly to Helen, he was _smiling_ almost to himself.

Granted his eyes were glued to his cereal bowl as he kept practically borderline inhaling the cereal, but Helen was in shock. She has never seen her son, even as a small child, look this put together so early in the morning.

To her, it was always ironic that while her son has super speed and agility… Dash has _always_ been chronically late in most everyday situations. He's almost always the last one to get in the car, last one to get to the table for family meals, and _always_ last to be ready in the morning.

Also the fact that Dash, who is far from being a morning person on school days especially, was fully awake and talking without any attitude to her at the moment was incredibly bizarre in her mind.

Helen further showed her shock as she kept focusing on the slight smile on his face right now again.

Helen waited a moment as she thought about what to say before she let out, "Good mood this morning?" Dash shot his head up as he wiped out the last of his cereal, still chewing, "Huh?... Oh, yeah. Just feeling good today, ya know?"

He gulped down the last of his milk before grabbing a banana out of the fruit basket on the counter and vaulting himself over the kitchen counter into the dining area on the side by Jack Jack, which Helen would have scolded him for had she not been so in shock at her son's behavior.

Also, the fact that he just spoke quite civilly to her just now only fueled her state.

Dash ruffled Jack Jack's still messy hair as he walked past and said, "Bye Jack! See ya, mom!"

Then Helen marveled as she looked out the front window and watched Dash get into his car and drive off to school ahead of schedule.

Helen paused for a second with a cup of coffee in hand before she walked over and sat down at the table with Jack Jack.

Practically falling back into a chair as she crossed her legs and took a sip, her eyes glazed over a bit from deep thought and confusion.

Jack Jack even noticed as he got a childish look of worry on his face as he asked, "Mommy… are you okay?"

Helen looked over at her youngest's worried expression and responded, "Yes, yes, I'm fine, sweetie. Mommy's just thinking."

Which in all honesty… that had no lie about it for Helen at that moment.

_**Later that day, night time**_

**(Dash's POV)**

I kept looking around the rooftop.

I was here right on time since I wasn't gonna miss this after last night, even though right now I felt like kicking myself. Yeah, I know I shouldn't just let the bank stuff go because of this but… I mean, c'mon!

A cool girl that's close to the same age as me that has powers and also happens to be a total babe asked me to meet her here again?

Yeah, there's no way I'm passing this up. And hey, who knows? This might be kinda fun!

She seemed really cool and she didn't rat me out or anything.

"So you came? For a second I thought I was going to get stood up." I whipped my head around and saw Nova right behind me, leaning against one of the generators on the roof with her arms crossed.

She was staying in the shadow of the generator and the only thing I could clearly make out were her eyes, but just by the way she was talking… I knew she was messing with me. And not gonna lie, I can get used to that with her.

I tried to even myself out as I smirked and crossed my arms back at her as I said, trying to match how she just talked to me, "I could say the same. I was here first."

I saw the silhouette of her shoulders shaking a little as she laughed and said, "That's fair… I suppose." She walked out in the open, still in the same uniform I saw her in yesterday.

Again… I could get used to this.

I thought she was going to bust me for a second since I was totally checking her out. Hey, I still don't trust her yet, but I mean she's _definitely _the hottest girl I've ever seen in person that's not WAY older than me so can you blame me right now?

She walked closer to me and brushed her fingers along my shoulder like she did last night as she started, "Well, _chitchat _aside… shall we _pick up_ where we left off yesterday?"

Her hand left my shoulder and I whipped my head around to look at her, still trying to figure out what was happening. But, either way, I didn't want to look stupid so I kept my cool and said, "Sure… for starters, what's up with the _sun thing_?"

She smirked as she looked over her shoulder and commented, definitely teasing me, "Well Blue Streak, I must say. You don't, as they say, beat around the bush, do you?… I like that."

I froze up again for a second as I saw her give me a wink over her shoulder.

_Seriously, what is happening right now?! _

Again, not complaining, but still! She laughed a little before turning around and saying, "Honestly though…" After that I saw her hold her left hand out in front of her and curl her fingers in.

She had a smirk on her face as that tiny sun that I remembered from last night practically came up out of nowhere in her hand as she started off, "My power is an _offshoot_ of particle manipulation. In my case, I can manipulate whatever particles are surrounding my body to do whatever I want. As long as my hands are around it… I can control anything from thawing to freezing or even small level nuclear fusion and fission."

"Cool… and say what now?" I asked, knowing I had that coming since I didn't know what she was talking about and didn't even wanna try and fake it.

She just let out a slight laugh as she held her hand out closer to me and said, "It's exactly what you're looking at. My ability to manipulate particles allows me to create, control, and contain stars to a degree. My name makes a bit more sense now, no?"

I tried to play it cool, but I couldn't stop myself as I kept staring at the sun in her hand until she closed her fingers and snuffed it like I snuff a candle with my fingers… at least until mom gives me crap about doing that.

She smirked at me again and I tried to straighten up and play it cool again as I asked, remembering something else from last night, "Okay, so you got the particle thing. But, what about flying?"

She chuckled at that for a second before saying, "My _flight,_ so to speak, is one in the same power. I'm not Stratogale. I can manipulate the particles surrounding me to give me short boosts to propel me up or allow me to float safely down or float short term. You could say it allows me to defy physics… but why am I explaining that to you? From what I've heard no one has ever seen or gotten a picture of you. You'd have to be pretty fast to make that work and I can see why based on what I saw yesterday."

I felt like my feet were stuck in cement right now and I saw so focused in on her that I didn't realize how close she was or… hold up…

_She's holding my hand? Wait… WHAT?! _

I let out a laugh and tried to fight my face from feeling like it was lightning itself on fire, trying not to make a big deal out of this and blow it, "Eh, ya know, once you realize you start crawling faster than your parents with powers can catch you then you being able to run faster than any jet is no big deal at that point to me."

I froze for a second and felt like I totally messed up when I realized I mentioned mom and dad.

She totally picked up on it too as she said, "Oh, both your parents are supers?" I felt like smacking myself and trying to figure out why I told her that. I turned it back on her as I brushed off, "Yeah, what about you? Do your parents have powers?"

"My mother has powers, not my father. But, I never _got on_ too much with my mother so when my parents divorced, I stayed with my father. But, he travels a lot for his _business_ so it keeps things _interesting_. Speaking of… I'm much more interested in…" I heard a beeping and looked at her watch thing that I remembered from yesterday.

She let out a sharp breath through her nose and rolled her eyes a little before smirking at me.

"Well, I apologize this has to be cut short again, but perhaps tomorrow you'd like to join me for something a little more… _fun?_" She moved her hand that was holding mine up my arm to my shoulder, making that shock go through my whole body that I had to fight off as I said, no even thinking about it and totally not even caring, "Y-yeah, sounds cool."

I totally felt like I was making an ass of myself until and I barely noticed until right at that moment and my eyes felt like they were going to fall out of my head when I saw her lean in leave this slow, lingering kiss on my cheek.

By the time I realized what was happening, she pulled away and put her lips near my ear as she said, "It's a date… See you later, Blue Streak."

_A date?_ _Huh?_

But by the time I turned around, she was gone.

Or I thought she was until I saw her on the next rooftop over she was looking at me over her shoulder before she winked at me and gave me a wave before diving over the side of the building.

I stood there for a second before running a hand through my hair and knowing I had the stupidest smile on my face a I let out, "Whoa…"

"Hey _Blue Streak_. Interesting look you got goin' there."

My whole body locked up for a second in shock as I whipped my head around and saw Lucius standing there in his super suit leaning his back on an old clothesline post on the roof with his arms crossed.

_Ah… crap_.

**({No POV})**

Dash turned himself around completely to face Lucius.

Dash while trying to feign ignorance as best as he could right now, he was also confused by Lucius' _comment_ he made just now as Dash sputtered out a, "Huh?"

As far as Dash was concerned, Lucius knew what his super suit looked like. What did he mean by his _look_?

Lucius was trying his best to be subtle as he reached a hand up to his own chin before brushing his thumb over his cheek with an even yet knowing expression on his face as he nodded toward a reflective metal grating on the roof.

Dash looked over in confusion only to realize he had a lipstick stain on his cheek from where Nova kissed him as a rock felt like it was forming in the pit of his stomach, knowing that he was caught.

He tried to wipe it off instantly, even though he knew Lucius probably saw what happened with him and Nova.

Dash _especially _knew as he saw Lucius cross his arms. He couldn't see his eyes behind his visor, but Dash could feel like Lucius was totally seeing through him right now and he was completely busted.

But, rather than just get flat out caught, Dash tried to keep his cool as he crossed his arms as he said, "So… what are you doing here?"

Lucius stopped leaning and got to an upright position as he started smoothly, "You know, I was in the neighborhood. Just getting a little fresh air."

Dash was trying so hard to stay calm even though he felt his heartbeat in his ears.

"But, anyway, while I was passing by I couldn't help but notice you and _someone else_ looking a little _friendly_ over here." Dash felt his hands clench reflexively and tried and failed to not look shocked now.

If he wasn't 100% sure he was busted… he was 110% sure now.

Dash knew he was in it now as he started, looking for an escape, "Hey Lucius, as much as I'd like to hang out, I kinda..." Dash felt a sensation around his feet before he could take off that made his blood as well as his feet run cold for 2 different reasons as he looked down and noticed his feet were frozen to the rooftop.

"Look Dash, I'm not here to cause trouble or yell at you. I just wanna talk, a'right?"

Dash, as much as he hated the situation at the moment, he knew fighting this wasn't going to help him as he let out a resigned sigh and gave a nod.

"Okay Dash, I know I've never said this out loud, but I want to be straight up with you right now. Believe it or not, I love you man. You're my best friend's kid and I couldn't love anymore if you would've been my own son. But Dash, just take a word of advice from a guy who's been there… just try to watch out for yourself with _Miss Superlady_." Lucius said, putting a hand on Dash's shoulder, looking nothing but serious yet sincere about everything he just said.

Dash got a slightly annoyed look on his face and was able to kick his feet out of the ice as he said, "Look Lucius, no offense, but stay out of it. I have enough of this crap at home and I don't need this right now, not from mom and dad or you. I know what I'm doing."

Lucius was quick to cut back in with, "Dash, that's not what I'm getting at. Trust me, I get you. My mom and old man were on me all the time when I was your age too, but that was cuz they cared and wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna do anything stupid. And that's all I'm trying to do now. Look Dash, I don't think you're stupid or that you can't do anything and I can't make you do anything. I'm not your dad and I'm not going to rat you out. You're 17 and I can't force you or change your mind. But, just take it from me. Just watch your back around people you run into out here. Doesn't matter if they're a super or not."

Dash, looking visibly flustered, embarrassed, and annoyed, immediately countered, his voice laced with annoyed sarcasm, "Are you seriously giving me a _stranger danger_ talk, right now? What do you think I'm gonna do? Take candy from a looney in a van?"

"Dash… I'm serious." Lucius started, looking as serious as he said he was, before continuing, "Just watch your back with her. I know she seems flashy, pretty, and exciting and you like her from what I'm seeing here… But don't let that distract you or make you do something stupid."

"Lucius, what's it to you? So what if I do like her? And why not? She hasn't even done anything yet to me since I met her yesterday." Dash stuck in causing Lucius to let out a slight laugh before replying, "_Wow_, yesterday? Sounds serious."

Dash got even more frustrated as he knit his brows together before commenting, "What? And like your _Blazestone thing_ was any different?"

For a moment Dash internally realized he went too far as he watched Lucius visibly lock up and almost look like he was about to snap until he calmed down and said, pointing a finger in warning at Dash, "Dash, you don't know what you're bringing in right now. But, that's part of it. I made a lot of _rushed_ decisions way back, but that's why I'm just trying to warn you man. To stop you from getting caught up in something crazy."

Dash watched as Lucius walked to the edge of the roof before looking back and saying, "Just keep your guard up, okay? If not for me or your folks… then do it as a favor for yourself." Lucius then cast out his hand to make an ice projection and continued to make a path for himself as he skated away.

Dash stood there in deep thought for a moment before scuffing his right foot against the roof top out of annoyance and frustration as he said, "Pft… _whatever_."

After that he took off to do one more lap around the city before calling it an early night.

**Wanted to make one a tad bit longer for all of you and because I just really got into writing this one, especially once I got to including Lucius (aka Frozone), he's legit my favorite character out of the franchise and I always liked the dynamic they gave him with the kids so it was fun for me to write how I would forsee a talk between him and a teenage Dash. Also, for those of you who don't know the Frozone/Blazestone mention I had in here, they were partners both as superheroes and also **_**lovers**_ **for lack of a better term way back in Frozone's time as a superhero before he met his wife Honey. And I just figured since Dash is starting this involvement with Nova… who better to give Dash a bit solid advice outside his parents than Lucius? You know despite Dash still feeling the need to reject the advice to flex his independence and show more of his frustration Anyway, what's going to happen next? What's Dash going to do? Will he follow Lucius' advice and avoid Nova? Or… will this push him closer to her? And what's up Nova's fixation on Dash? Tune in next time for more. As always thank you so much for reading and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated! Have a lovely week!**

**Stay Classy!**

**Dexter1995**


	6. Turn

**Well, with the advent of recent events and me trying as little as possible to go out to stay well as I imagine many of you are as well, I thought what better to do than to use this extra time I have to write! So, here's the next chapter that takes place immediately after the last one. Hope you all enjoy!**

**(Dash's POV)**

I could tell fall was really hitting. Not that my suit can't keep me warm, but no doubt it felt cooler outside running along the rooftops.

But, I needed to just run right now.

_Ugh…_

I'm just tired of people treating me like I'm stupid and can't handle anything.

And all that from Lucius?! You gotta be kidding me right now?! Out of everyone right now, Lucius was the only one other than maybe dad who isn't on my back all the time. What's his problem anyway?!

Why does he even care about me hanging out with Nova?

I'm not an idiot.

I know how to handle myself and she hasn't even done anything! She's cool. It's not like he even gets it since it's not _anything_ like I remembered my dad telling me about what happened between Lucius and Blazestone.

I mean, from what I knew about her, that lady was a total time-bomb and always screwed stuff up if she totally lost her temper enough on the job.

I stopped on the edge of this building on a dime when I flushed all that stuff out that happened with Lucius and what I was just thinking about as I remembered what _happened _earlier as I put my hand over my cheek where Nova kissed me.

Yeah, I know, but… man. She's so cool.

And she actually wants to hang out with me? I mean, she said it was a date, right? But… I don't know? Either way, I'm just gonna keep my cool and see what happens.

Nothing wrong with that.

_**The next morning**_

**(Bob's POV)**

Well, traffic could've been worse. Luckily I think I beat morning rush hour coming home from the airport.

_Heh… definitely don't miss that_.

I practically make 2 almost 3 times what I made working at Insuricare, then add the fact that it doesn't feel soul crushing and I have no real complaints. I _definitely_ got a good gig with this.

I mean, it's not that… _exciting_, but I know Helen prefers us doing this and I'm trying to look on the bright side. Sure I'm not _in the action_ as much as I used to be, but at least I'm able to use my powers in public again and doing these gigs is helping make this easier for my kids as supers for the future.

And not that I'm totally _out of action_. I actually helped on a high speed car chase after a robbery while I was helping at a ribbon cutting ceremony at a park yesterday.

"Hey look who got back in one piece?" I smirked before whipping my head around and saw Lucius right behind my car. He was practically mirroring my expression back at me as I went in to shake his hand as I said back, "Look who's up early?"

We both laughed as we let go of each other's hands before Lucius said back, "I was in the neighborhood and knew you were getting back in. How was Pittsburgh?"

I shrugged before replying, "Eh, the usual. Ribbon cutting ceremonies, shaking hands, kissing babies deal. Heh, but yeah. Nothing too crazy. How was it around here?"

I saw Lucius get this weird look on his face for a second before letting out a long sigh.

It was kinda getting uncomfortable as I said, "Lucius, what's going on?" It looked like he snapped himself out of something before he said back, "Sorry. Its just… I ran into Dash last night out in the city."

I sighed and dragged my right hand through my hair as I asked, "What did he do now?"

It was really quick as I saw Lucius put up both his hands and say, "Nothing! It's just… it's nothing. Just Dash being Dash right now with trying to _flex_ _himself_. But, I'm looking out for him. I know you and Helen don't go into the city much these days and I can usually find him. I got it covered."

I tilted my head a little before saying, "Lucius, it's not that we don't _appreciate _you always helping us out. You and Honey. But… you don't have to keep doing this if it's too much for…" "Bob, it's no big deal. I'm in my 50's and don't have much going on outside work. I got this." He clapped me on the shoulder with a smirk.

I let out a laugh and said, "Alright, but if Dash starts driving you crazy, don't say I didn't warn you."

Lucius let out a laugh before saying, "Please, I got this. Far as I remember we were both arrogant egomaniacs back in the day… you more than me though." I tried to hold back as I clapped him back on the shoulder as light as I could after he made that jab at me as we laughed it off.

After we went quiet I said, "Thanks again, Lucius. For everything." "Anytime." He said, shaking my hand one last time before he ran off, probably to do a quick change before surfing his way back into the city before Honey woke up.

I smiled and shook my head.

Practically internally laughing about what Lucius would be in for if Honey caught him coming home in _uniform_ this early in the morning.

But… I have to hand it to both of them.

For me there was no doubt Lucius was going to be my best man at my wedding since he's been my best friend as far back as I can remember, but Lucius has always been my _best man_. Whether we were out on a job fighting crime or just offering to pick the kids up after school if things became too hectic with Helen and I at the moment out in the field… which luckily have been few and far between in the last several years, but still.

And especially since pretty much everyone else we know from back in the day is, well… _gone_. I count myself pretty lucky to have Lucius still around for _many_ different reasons. Just to have someone I can count on.

I was getting my stuff out of the car as I heard, "Hey dad."

I whipped my head over and saw Dash walking up to his car and opening the door… and also catching me by surprise. He was smiling and looked like he was full of energy… which is completely not how he is _ever_ in the morning. Now that that and add on it being before 7 am… saying I'm shocked is an understatement.

I stood there watching him throw his backpack and football pads into his car as I finally started, still confused by what I was seeing, "Hi… doing okay?"

Dash shot his head up and he was smiling as he said, "Oh yeah! Just gonna do my lifting before school so I don't have to do it after practice." He climbed into the car and started up as I just watched on in confusion as he waved an arm out the window and called out, "Okay dad, see ya!"

All I did was stand there for almost a full minute watching his car disappear down the road and scratching my head, still trying to wrap my brain around what just happened.

_**Later that day**_

**({No POV})**

Dash was in his super suit and pacing on the rooftop, waiting for Nova to show up.

He was about to turn but not before stopping for a second to look at himself in a reflective piece of glass from one of the skylights on the roof.

Practically checking himself out for a second and running a hand over his hair and smirking for a second at himself until he whipped his head up when he heard a smooth voice say, "Am I interrupting?"

Dash whipped his head around and saw Nova standing on the edge of the building, the little bit of light around was catching her eyes as she walked closer into view. Her usual confidence about her and as she put a hand on her hip and let her free arm hang casually at her side.

Quickly, Dash tried to smoothly recover himself as much as possible as he said, "No, if anything I was wondering if I was getting stood up again. Like to keep a guy waiting?"

She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth as a coy expression crossed her face as she said, "Well… I prefer to think of it as keeping things _interesting_."

She walked past Dash, brushing her fingers over his forearm in a light teasing manner. Dash, still getting used to this kind of situation, whipped his head around to keep his focus on her as she walked past him.

"So…" She drooled on, walking to the edge of the building. Nova paused before looking back over her shoulder, a sly smirk spread across her face as she said, "What are we waiting for? Let's have a little fun, shall we?"

After that she jumped over the edge and started floating down to the building below.

Dash sprinted to the edge and looked down only to see Nova looking right back up at him since there was about a 40 foot height difference between both rooftops.

Nova's sly grin returned as she winked in Dash's direction and calling out, "Let's see if you can keep up, Blue Streak!" After that Nova took off running, making Dash smirk and say to himself, "_Oh_, its on."

Dash took a couple steps back before launching himself over the side of the building and tucking his body into a somersault before getting to his feet and taking off in a sprint for a split second before he immediately caught up to Nova.

"What was that about _keeping up_?" Dash taunted a little as he smirked in Nova's direction, slowing himself to her running speed as he followed her. Nova looked toward Dash and commented, "Well, you caught up… but let's see if you can keep track. Just follow along. I've got a _great_ plan for tonight."

Dash smirked as they both kept running with Dash following along, even if he felt almost as painfully slowed down as when he was playing football at school, this time he was more than willing to slow down to see what Nova had in store.

However, unbeknownst to both of them… they weren't as alone as they thought as a shadowy figure was watching them in the distance.

_Lucius._

Lucius put the set of binoculars he was using back in his belt before he took off on his ice rift to keep following them.

_**10 minutes later**_

Dash and Nova both stopped on the edge of this apartment complex looking over into the street that had a wide array of businesses, all of which were closed for the night and leaving the street rather silent.

Dash looked around not seeing anything particularly interesting to him and almost looking bored after just seeing Nova looking off in a certain direction.

"So… what _exactly_ are we doing?" Dash questioned, not knowing why Nova took them all the way here to this _no man's land_ part of town since nothing interesting was happening.

After a moment, Nova turned around. She was slow, careful, but with a purpose stepping toward Dash until they were about only a foot apart from each other.

Dash visibly froze up as Nova looked him directly in the eye as she started, "You know... _Blue Streak_, from the moment I came across you, I knew you were _different_. I can see you aren't like other supers. You aren't happy with just the bare minimum, just blindly doing what you're told. You play by your own rules. You take risks and don't care what anyone thinks since you do what you want to. Drive is very important. And…" She put her hands on his shoulders and brought their faces almost a couple inches apart as she finished, "I _love_ those qualities in a man."

Dash was caught off guard completely now and felt almost entranced as he kept his eyes glued to Nova and his mouth involuntarily fell open for a split second as he gulped before saying, "Y-you do?"

Dash had no idea what was happening right now. He felt like he hardly had the ability to speak anymore, but weirdly… he felt completely _entranced_ and was pretty much accepting whatever it was that Nova was doing with him right now.

Nova smirked as she moved a hand to his face and brushed her thumb over his cheek as she said, "I do… and that's exactly why I know I can trust you to help me. You will help me, _right_?" Dash nodded and gulped again before saying, feeling like he didn't even know what he was doing anymore, "Ye-yeah, sure."

Nova smirked as she moved her hand closer in on his face until she teasingly ran her pointer finger down the center of his lips before commenting in a velvety smooth tone of voice, "I knew I could trust you."

After that she dragged Dash to the edge of the roof with her by his hand, his eyes glued to her as if he was completely hypnotized. She pointed down to the window at this store where there was this wide array of objects.

"That store down there is Leonard's Imports. It's a jewel in this city. Every day it gets everything from expensive technology to jewelry from high profile clients all over the world. Things many people would _fight _to have. For example… see that necklace?"

Dash narrowed his eyes, snapping out of his trance for a moment as he said, "Yeah, the one with the huge black rock on it?"

"That's no _black rock_, as you say. _That_ is a black diamond on a necklace said to have come from a British countess and passed down through several aristocratic dynasties. Today, it just sits in that window under a layer of bullet proof glass collecting dust like a cheap decoration. I've tried to get the shop owner to let me have a look at it but she always refuses. She won't let anyone go near it and she refuses to take any buyers on it. So… tonight I, or we I should say, are going to change that. Tonight... I'm _finally _going to have a closer look at it." Nova said, staring intently at the necklace.

Dash turned his head and quirked up an eyebrow as he asked, looking confused, "What do you mean?"

Nova looked over, a sly expression on her face, "What do you mean what do I mean? Alone I can't get anywhere close to it without raising an alarm, even with my powers… that's where you come in. You and I are gonna go down there and figure out a way around the alarms. With my particle manipulation and your super human speed, we can get that necklace out of that shop without anyone even seeing we're there. All we need to do is get close enough to…"

"No." Dash interrupted.

Nova whipped her head over, a perplexed expression as she inquired, "Excuse me?"

"I said no. We can't do this. That's stealing. It's… it's wrong!" Dash responded, very adamant.

Nova gave Dash a confused look before giving a displeased yet snarky grin before responding, sounding _very_ annoyed, "_Wrong?_ Are you serious right now? You're lecturing me about taking a necklace when you go out using your powers against international regulation, _Blue Streak?_"

Dash knit his eyebrows together as he finally ripped his hand out of hers before pointing at her and snapping, "That's different! What I do doesn't do anything to anyone. You're talking about stealing from someone, Nova."

Dash tried to turn away, looking flustered and angry, until Nova stopped him by grabbing his arm, making him turn back around to face her. "C'mon Blue Streak, don't you think you're overreacting? It's just a necklace. Besides…," Nova paused as she put a hand on Dash's face and ran her hand over his cheek for a moment, "All I'm trying to do is get what I want to study it. Isn't that what you do? Aren't you determined... to get what you _want_?"

Nova looked like she was trying to lean in when Dash grit his teeth and closed his eyes and he pushed her away a bit and crossed his arms as he narrowed his eyes at her and said, looking conflicted but still angry and determined, "Sorry, Nova. I'm not helping you do this."

It was silent for a moment as Nova looked at Dash, part angry and part confused, until her expression took on a state of complete displeasure as she responded with a sharp breath, "Fine!… be like that. Be a _boring_, _buzzkill_ _goodie two shoes_ that won't get anywhere because you're too afraid to risk things when it counts."

Nova tried to walk away until she stopped dead as she heard, "I'd rather be a _buzzkill_ than a total snake."

Nova shot her head back to see Dash narrowing his eyes at her with his arms still crossed. She gave him a wide eyed expression before rolling her eyes and saying, "Whatever, thanks for wasting my time, _boy scout_. _Ciao!_"

Dash wasn't even paying attention anymore as he narrowed his eyes at the roof for several moments, his fists and jaw clenched.

He took in a sharp breath after a long pause before he just took off in a dead sprint. He was running so fast and combine that with not thinking clearly that by the time he stopped, he almost took a header off the edge of a particularly tall office building.

He quickly took a couple steps back before gripping his hands into his hair.

After a moment he flopped down on the roof his elbows resting on his knees as he sat there, a cold expression on his face, as he started off into the city skyline in front of him.

Dash knit his eyebrows together when he heard the familiar sound of Lucius skating onto the rooftop.

It was quiet for a moment as Lucius stood there behind Dash, trying to figure out a way to approach the situation after he saw what ended up happening between, or at least the end of what happened, between Dash and Nova.

"Hey, Dash, I…" "Go away, Lucius." Dash said, immediately cutting Lucius off without even turning around. "Look Dash, I…" Lucius stopped as Dashed turned around and snapped, "Lucius, just leave me alone!"

Lucius knew he needed to stop right here.

Dash clearly wasn't in the mood, partly due to almost being used by a girl he liked just minutes ago and partly due to not wanting to get an _I told you so_ lecture from Lucius and Lucius clearly recognized this as he backed away with his hands up as he said, "A'right. I got it."

Right as Lucius was about to cast out his hand to surf back home, he looked back one more time, looking hesitant for a second before saying, very simply but to the point, "Hey, I'm sorry man… really."

Dash still didn't turn around as Lucius decided to take off but Dash was biting his lip as he started to feel a huge wave of anger, confusion, frustration, and now guilt consume him as he continued to sit there.

**Well, looks like Dash found out the hard way about the kind of person Nova truly was. But, despite everything, I really wanted to show Dash's true nature that we all know. Dash can be a bit of an arrogant, stubborn show off but he's not a bad person. And even though he doesn't agree with the age limit on the law in place over him, he has strong morals that he sticks to and doesn't cave in on them. Bob and Helen would be proud. :) What will happen next? Where did Nova go? Will Dash ever come to terms with his parents and Lucius? Stay tuned to find out next time! As always thank you so much for taking the time to read and reviews are always appreciated.**

**Stay Classy, Healthy, and Safe!**

**Dexter1995**


	7. Implication

**Hello everyone! Well, with the current state of things in the world and all of us having a bit more time on our hands due to it… what better to do than to contribute to the cause and write some more fanfiction. I just need something to fill my time being off work and hopefully I make some of your days by giving you all some reading material to choose from to escape reality for a little bit as we continue to practice our social distancing. So, without further ado, here is the latest chapter that picks up immediately after the last chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

**({No POV})**

It was a little before midnight and a cloud of dust, rumble, and smoke drifted above the skyline.

The side of a high security bank vault was blown wide open. Two detectives, along with their crime scene investigative team, were all sweeping the area for any evidence on this crime trend that was taking over Metroville at the moment.

"Anything yet?" The first detective, Jerry, asked his colleague in a nasally tone.

The evidence technician shook her head as she replied, "Nothing. Like every other time, we searched and scanned every surface and can't find any leads. No fingerprints, DNA, tools… nothing. All we can find is rubble and holes carved into things that seem almost alien. Nothing adds up."

As the tech walked away, Jerry heard, "She's right Jer."

Jerry looked behind him and saw Ray right behind him as Ray continued, "Nothing about this makes any sense. Especially with each time it happens."

Jerry gave him a confused look as he questioned, "What are you talking about, Ray? The same thing's happened every time."

Ray walked off and looked into the vault as he commented, looking toward one spot in particular, "Not every time."

Jerry came over, still very much confused until his expression shifted to intrigue once he saw what Ray meant. A particular drawer was open and the contents strewn about the space with every other drawer containing valuables around it remained untouched.

_Public Records and Blue Prints._

_**The next day**_

Helen walked back in the house with the Sunday morning newspaper, pulling off the rubber band as she walked back into the house.

She looked over and smiled for a second as she saw Bob and Jack-Jack play wrestle on the living room floor. Or at least it was until Jack-Jack got a playful yet slightly sneaky smile on his face as he used his powers to immediately multiply himself to 5 as 4 of his copies clung to Bob's arms as he put his dad into a headlock.

Despite having super strength, Bob just fell to the ground to humor his son as he laughed before playfully scolding, "Jack, c'mon! No replication. You know, I can't do that!"

Jack-Jack laughed a little as he went back to being his one person, still clinging around his dad's dad neck in a loose headlock.

Bob glanced over his shoulder to see Jack-Jack giving him a slightly apologetic yet cheeky grin before smiled and pulled Jack-Jack over his shoulder as he said playfully while laughing, "Okay, you little stinker!"

Jack-Jack started laughing too before Helen interrupted, "Bob… come look at this a second?"

Bob paused as he put down Jack-Jack, who immediately looked back to the TV as he picked up an action figure and started fiddling with it in his hands as Bob walked out of the room. Bob walked in the kitchen and saw Helen looking at the newspaper at the kitchen counter.

"What's going on?" Bob asked as he walked in.

Helen glanced over and slid the Newspaper closer to him on the counter as she commented, "Another robbery last night."

"Another one? That's the sixth one in the past couple weeks."

Bob commented as he started to read the column about it, scratching his head a little. "And not many leads on it either. Have you heard anything from Lucius? You said you talked to him the other day, right?" Helen asked.

Bobby shook his head, "No, all he really said was that he was just trying to help us keep an eye on Dash. But, odds are wherever he follows Dash he'll probably also be following this case. I can't see Dash not being on this at all whenever he's out there."

Helen got a thoughtful look on her face as she commented, "Is he still in his room?"

Helen looked down the hall at Dash's door, still closed.

But, the faint sound of clanking metal from his weightlifting set could be heard being in use.

"Sounds like it." Bob said, looking at the end of the hall from behind Helen. They both exchanged a look, both unsure and also hesitant about the entirety of the situation.

_**2 weeks later**_

**(Dash's POV)**

_Oh for the… where's that stupid book?_

I've been in the school library looking for this book for the past 20 minutes.

We're starting book reports in English and we all got a different book that we had to pick from this list… except I got the scraps since everyone got to the good ones before me.

Yeah, I had it coming since I waited until the last minute, but still.

The whole section was totally picked over.

I kept looking over books to find one on my list when I saw one sticking out from the shelf. I was about to push the book back in until I stopped for a moment as I looked at the cover. I read this book in English last year, and also didn't even like it.

_Romeo and Juliet. _

And the cover was just as sappy as that whole story with Romeo climbing halfway through the window and Juliet kissing him. I could feel my jaw clench and I felt like my head was going to explode as I scrunched my eyebrows together and shoved the book so hard back into the shelf that it made a loud _thump_ that caused everyone around me to look at me and I didn't even care.

_Girls suck._

_I mean… C'MON?! _

The moment I started to like a girl and she ended up being a total snake that was just using me to try and steal stuff. I bet Lucius was just _loving_ it since I could tell he probably caught what happened with Nova.

I mean, he said sorry, but… I don't know?!

_Pft… whatever._

That's the last time I'll ever get totally lame over a girl or trust anyone out there. I can't trust anyone but me. And I still can't find that STUPID BOOK?!

I probably looked like a total psycho as I kept scanning over the shelves like crazy. I actually had to go down a few more aisles.

"C'mon, Orwell… Orwell." I kept saying to myself.

_Yeah, anyone looking at me right now probably does think I'm nuts. _

I rounded the corner and flinched and actually fell back when I collided head on with someone.

_Sure… why not? I got double crossed by a snake, my team got booted out the playoffs in our first game last week, and I feel like I'm losing my mind looking for a stupid book… What else can possibly happen to me right now?!_

I looked down and saw a whole bunch of stuff in front of me from the person I ran into and saw I ran into Melanie Frickowski. She looked like she was flipping out as she was trying to pick up her stuff as fast as possible.

_Great, anything else? _

"Sorry." I said, under my breath, as I started to just help her pick stuff up.

I was reaching for a pencil she dropped when she also reached for it at the same time since I ended up putting my hand on top of hers by accident.

Right when our hands touched my eyes went wide as I felt this HUGE rush go through my body that made my back straighten instantly on reflex.

Either way, it didn't feel… _normal_.

It felt like this current was running through my body, like electricity or something. It wasn't like I was being electrocuted or anything, but I could feel _something_, like goose bumps and static put together all over my body.

My chest started to tighten up and I almost couldn't breathe.

I seriously had no idea why since nothing was happening in the library. I felt like I was _this close_ to losing my mind. But… I couldn't move. I felt like the whole room was getting smaller around me. All I wanted to do was escape.

I didn't know why but that's all I could think of.

I kept looking all around me to find a way out even though I have no idea what's happening to me right now. I was looking everywhere.

The windows, the ceiling… I need to go. I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!

I looked back at the floor but… _what the?_

I looked down and saw… what am I even looking at?! My eyes looked at my hand and up my arm and saw these… colors. Like these colored lights coming from my body like flames whipping all over the place.

It was like looking into an insane Kaleidoscope, but _I _was the Kaleidoscope.

It was all around my whole body. I was still freaking out but now I felt like I was freaking out about a million different things, most of those I didn't even know why. I just looked at my arm until I noticed something.

I still had my hand on Melanie's over the pencil that was still on the floor. But, as I looked up at her, I saw Melanie looking right at me. That's not what got me though. The same Kaleidoscope flame color lights were also all around her body, but they were reflecting colors way different from mine and looked way more _intense _than the colored lights around me.

And her eyes… her eyes weren't _her eyes_, at least not her normal eyes.

Her eyes were radiating white light like headlights on a truck or something as she looked at me. And she looked just as freaked out as me, like _exactly_ how I was freaking out right now.

After a second, I saw her expression change on a dime and right at that instant, I saw her shut her eyes and grit her teeth and I suddenly felt like I was being ripped out of my body for a second as I felt her hand under mine clench into a fist and rip itself away from mine.

I fell back and pretty much propped myself up on my elbows and I was gasping for air like someone just tried to drown me, but… all the anxiety and the weird colors around me were gone.

Like it never even happened and I couldn't figure out what the heck was happening?!

I looked back across from me at Melanie and saw her doing the same thing back at me. Except she looked like she was still beyond freaked out and then add-on looking totally mortified.

She started shaking for a second until she just grabbed her backpack and took off in an all out sprint, being yelled at by one of the librarians for running through the library as she bolted out of there like a bat out of hell.

A whole bunch of papers and stuff that she dropped were still all over the floor in front of me as I tried to figure out just WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!

I leaned forward and saw that she dropped what looked like the rough draft of the history essay we had to write… that I _still_ need to write.

Right as I was picking it all up, I felt my eyes go wide as everything hit me, making me feel stupid why it hit me so late after _all that_ happened.

Those weird lights, the feeling like I was freaking out totally out of nowhere for no reason, and that weird _current_ feeling with whatever _that was_ that was happening when I touched Melanie's hand? I felt my mouth fall open.

_No way..._

Is Melanie… a super?

**Well… looks like Dash and the rest of the gang have quite a few things on their plate at the moment in a variety of ways. Trust me, this is only the beginning of what's to come. I hope this chapter helped make your day a bit lighter with what's happening right now. As always reviews and feedback are always appreciated and thanks for reading. I hope you all and your friends/family are staying safe and healthy out there.**

**Keep calm, wash hands, and of course… Stay Classy!**

**Dexter1995**


	8. Perplexion

**Well, without delay, this chapter picks up 3 hours after the end of the previous chapter and the Parr family is sitting down for dinner together. Enjoy!**

**(Helen's POV)**

"Hey, watch it!" I started as I reached in and slid a napkin into Jack Jack's lap just in time to catch the spaghetti sauce that dripped off his fork.

"Nice catch." Bob commented, giving me a slight grin as he took a drink from his glass. I gave him a slight smirk back and was about to make a remark until I glanced at Dash for a split second before settling on him.

He looked really deep in thought as he stared at his plate and just kept pushing around his food with his fork before taking slow, small bites. Okay, he's eating and he usually doesn't talk a lot during dinner… but I know my son enough to know this isn't his _usual_.

Usually no matter what, Dash shovels food into his mouth and looks like he hasn't been fed in days despite getting enough to feed three starving people at almost every meal, or at least that's what it feels like sometimes, since his metabolism literally runs him dry if he doesn't eat enough.

But, he was just barely finishing his first helping and he hasn't done this since he was a little boy and put up resistance to eating his vegetables like a lot of kids. Then ever since he was 14, his metabolism picked up and he no longer cared or discriminated when it came to eating. I swear if you put anything in front of Dash that constitutes as food, he will eat it so fast that it's almost as if he swallows his food whole like a snake.

But _this_ that I'm seeing right now… concerns me.

I looked across from me at Bob, who was also looking at Dash and I could tell he was thinking the same thing that I was about this not being _normal_.

He looked at me and we exchanged a glance between us, almost like we knew exactly what we were thinking and that we were thinking the exact same thing.

I looked back at Dash and tried to approach it as cautiously as possible since we haven't exactly had the _best_ relationship lately for _particular reasons_.

I tried to keep my tone as calm as possible as I said, just trying to show I was concerned, "Everything okay?"

It took a second I think for him to register that I was talking to him since he whipped his head over to look at me and said, "Huh?" I tilted my head and asked, "Is everything okay? Is something wrong with your spaghetti?"

After that he shook his head and spoke really fast and nervously as he said, "Oh, no. It's just… I'm just not hungry."

I was about to ask if he was okay when he immediately shoved the rest of the spaghetti on his plate into his mouth and said through chewing, "Done."

He took off into the kitchen and cleaned his plate as fast as possible before putting it into the drying rack next to the sink and then ran into his room and shut the door before anyone could say anything.

I looked back at Bob, who looked about as confused as me, as I craned my neck a little to look at Dash's closed door.

_**Later that night**_

**(Dash's POV)**

All I kept looking at was my hand as I sat on the edge of a building looking at the streets, trying to clear my head.

Well, again, _trying._

I still don't know how to even feel right now. I mean… what was that?!

Even though whatever that was when Melanie touched my hand faded off a LONG time ago at this point, it's like my head still can't shake it. Like it keeps throwing all the stuff I remembered from what happened yesterday back in my face.

Cuz, how can I _not_ think about it?! That was crazy!

I've seen a lot of weird stuff, but I've NEVER had anything like that happen to me ever!

Sure usually anything that involves Melanie is usually about as weird as she is, but she took that to a whole new level yesterday.

And especially since it got even more awkward today, I found her in the library and tried to sneak her the stuff she dropped yesterday back _and_ tried to ask her about _what happened_. But before I even said anything, she just automatically ripped the papers out of my hand and just walked away saying 'thanks' really fast… Honestly her thanking me made it even weirder.

Then the rest of the day was her just straight up avoiding me since I hardly saw her and when I did see her she would immediately turn and b-line away from me.

Well, you know, at least her version of _avoiding_ since she just pretty much avoids everyone on a daily basis.

And again… I still can't figure it out?!

I mean, even though I've never seen or felt anything like that… seriously, she has to be a super, right? There's NO way that she doesn't have powers or something, right?!

I just… ugh, I don't know? I just can't believe a girl in my school, and my same grade, was a super this whole time and I never knew.

When I was a kid, I still remembered when mom and dad told us that most other kids didn't have powers like we did. Even everyone who's older than me as a super are really hard to find.

When you run into another superhero now, it's crazy. I felt myself cringe as I thought of _her_, but even just meeting Nova and seeing that there are other people around my age who have powers blew my mind.

But, Melanie also has powers? And I was in school with her for years and had literally no idea at all?

Yeah, no one would really guess that I have powers either I guess since I don't just take off at top speed in the middle of the hall or anything. That and I wear a super suit to protect my identity like most supers do when we're using our powers out in public, so no one knows who I am.

Well, maybe Melanie knew who I was after I saved her from getting crushed by a truck?

_Ugh, man this just keeps getting worse…_

But what can I do? Do I just walk up to her and just say, "Hey, so remember that freaky light show that happened the other day in the library when you gave me a total panic attack for some reason?"

Yeah, no matter what way that comes out, it's gonna sound weird.

And that's only half of it.

If today told me anything, Melanie is going to avoid me at all costs since she literally just showed me her powers right in the middle of the library.

Again, do I think she's weird? Uh yeah, especially right now I am really freaked out by her and think she's really weird, but not for her powers.

But… all I want to do right now is talk to her. I have no idea exactly what I want to _really_ talk to her about or even just say to her period, but… I just got to know.

I REALLY want to know what's her deal. And I'm gonna find out.

_**3 days later**_

Okay, she should be coming around the corner, right about… now. Melanie started rounding the corner into old downton of our suburb, reading a book while she was walking.

Alright, I know this looks bad, but… I can explain.

For the past couple days, I've been trying to see if I could get her to run into me in the library or something again. Yeah, that didn't happen. Melanie has _still _been doing everything she possibly can to avoid me everyday at school.

_Shocker_.

But, I only have one class with her and even in that class we sit at opposite ends of the room. Also, its Trigonometry and our teacher, Mrs. Danders, is like a drill sergeant and doesn't let any of us talk or hang around in her class room once the end bell rings for the class period.

Also, Melanie sits closest to the door and she bolts it out of there so fast I can't do anything. Not like I can just use my powers in the middle of passing period without _anybody_ noticing?

It was Friday and I just realized that I wouldn't have any chance of trying to talk to her until next week since I have no idea where to find her outside of school.

I have no idea where she lives and it's not like I can even ask anyone else either since Melanie doesn't have any friends.

And since football season is over and I have nothing else to do right after school… yeah, I've been following her.

I know that sounds bad!

But this is the only way I could think of to try and get her to talk to me about whatever the heck happened a few days ago?! It's crazy though because she actually doesn't live that far away from me, only about 7 blocks.

But, she doesn't drive like I do since she always walks home everyday. That and she always walks through old downtown that's filled with a bunch of restaurants and local business places.

So, I started to think.

There's no way I could do this once she gets to the neighborhood since everyone and their mom would be able to see us. But… old downtown? There's a lot of old back alleys where the businesses keep their trash cans in and are also a pretty good hiding spot if you'd need one.

She kept getting closer and I started to bite my lip.

_Ugh… please let me not screw this up._

I had my super suit on underneath my letter jacket and jeans so I could have my hands covered. Look after the last I touched her hand and felt like I was drowning and freaking out from nothing, I didn't want to chance it.

Don't know if my gloves will do anything, but then again I didn't remember any weird stuff happening when I grabbed her when I saved her that one time. Hey, worth a shot though, right?

She started to walk past the entrance to the alley and I just went for it as I grabbed her off the sidewalk in one swift motion and got her between me and the alley wall so fast I was hardly even thinking.

And it wasn't until now that really realized… I had no idea what I was doing or even wanted to do.

My hands were resting on the wall on either side of her head and she was just staring at me in shock as she pressed herself into the wall away from me, and all I did was just… stare.

And it was right now I realized I had no idea what I was doing as I slipped, "You have powers."

But, before I could beat myself up for whatever the heck _that_ was, I grunted and fell to my knees immediately as I felt her give me a sharp hit _below the belt_ with what I knew was one of her knees. And trust me, it was a REALLY good hit.

I was holding myself on the ground and trying not to tear up.

"_Why?_" I strained out on reflex, trying to figure out what my life has gotten to at this point.

Seriously, I met one girl with powers who tried to get me to rob a place for her and now another girl with powers I've gone to school with for years just hit me where it hurts.

_Are all girls psycho or something?!_

I mean, I know I just pulled Melanie into an alley to get her talk to me… but I don't know!

"What is wrong with you?" I strained out, my voice sounding hoarse as all get out since I was still in pain.

"M-me?! You just pulled me into an alley!" She yelled back at me, clearly freaked out and also looking _pretty_ mad. Kinda took me by surprise too since I've never seen her angry like this before.

_Yeah, had that one coming._

I started to try and stand right as she looked like she was about to book it out of there.

I bit my lip to fight the pain as I zoomed in front of her to cut her off as I gulped before saying, "Look, I just wanna talk, okay?"

She stumbled back and even tripped and fell on the ground but still kept stumbling back away from me as she said, still really freaked out, "GET away from me, Dash! I-I mean it or… or I'll tell everyone you're Blue Streak!"

I froze for a second and felt my knees lock up after I heard her say that. Yeah, I know I used my powers in front of her just now but, man I am so confused right now.

I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching and I didn't want to just let her know she had me as I said, getting really annoyed and frustrated, "Shh! Well, don't scream it! And… how did you even know anyway?"

It was quiet until she finally looked up at me, and unlike usual, she actually didn't look freaked out or nervous like she usually does all the time as she said, "I always knew. Even before you saved me from that truck."

At first I wasn't surprised until I realized what she said as I gave her a look and asked, "What do you mean, _you always knew_?"

_How could she have always known? I never used my powers in front of her at school or… ever?! At least not outside of my suit until now. So could she have always known I was a super?!_

She looked away from me, biting her bottom lip and crossing her arms really tight.

She gave me a weird side eye glance, going back to her normally uncomfortable expression, but I wasn't letting this go that easy.

I clenched my fists before crossing my arms at her, raising an eyebrow, and giving her a _look_ as I said, showing I wasn't backing down, "Melanie, just so you know, I'm not just gonna let this go. You _are _going to tell me about whatever that was that happened in the library AND you _are_ going to tell me how you knew about me? I don't care if I have to stand my ground here until I'm dead. I. Want. Answers…"

Okay, maybe that was a little _too much_, but… look I'm literally losing it here! I just want her to stop avoiding me and be straight up with me about what's going on.

"Your aura." I heard her say, pulling me out of my head.

_Huh? _

"My, er... what?" I said, still feeling totally annoyed and confused.

_What the heck is she talking about?!_

Melanie was looking all over the place at pretty much everything but at me until I saw her get up off the ground as quickly as she could without falling over again, even though she almost did.

She stopped and took a deep breath before she looked right at me and pointed as she said, "428 Hickory Street at 7 tonight."

"What?" I snapped back automatically, knowing I sounded as confused as I am right now with whatever the heck this is that's going on?!

She rolled her eyes and sighed as she said, sounding flustered and frustrated, "Look, I-I don't have time for this right now. I just told you my address. All I need is a couple hours. Just show up to my house and go through the gate and meet me in my backyard at 7 and then I… I'll tell you. I'll tell you anything you want to know just let me get out of here."

We just stared at each other and I tilted my head and got the look I was giving her back as I finally said, "Promise?"

At this point she literally looked like she was about to lose it as she grunted up at the sky before looking at me and saying, "YES! I promise! N-now, let me go!" I hesitated for a second before I stepped aside and she just started running, grabbing her book she dropped and almost tripped and fell again, but recovered in time to run.

I just stood there, trying to figure out what just happened as I looked outside the alley in time to see her sprint around the corner.

**Well, looks like Dash's attempt both did and did not go to plan like he thought! Lol. But, now with this invitation from Melanie… what will happen next? What will be revealed? All will be revealed and more! Hope you all are staying safe and healthy out there and I also hope this chapter helped brighten your day a little bit. Thanks for taking the time to read and comments/reviews are always very much appreciated. **

**Stay safe and classy!**

**Dexter1995**


	9. Explanation, part 1

**Well, here's the continuation from the last chapter that picks up a couple hours after chapter 8 left off. This is a relatively long chapter with a lot of dialogue so I hope you are in a comfy spot! Haha. What will Melanie have to share with Dash? Read on to find out! Enjoy! :) **

**(Dash's POV)**

It was almost 7 and I was already standing outside Melanie's house. And I decided not to tell her that I technically already knew where she lived before she told me, but whatever, I just want answers.

Also, I think this is the first time I showed up early for something that wasn't sports or hero work related now that I think about it.

Eh, whatever?

I think I was standing there spacing out longer than I thought when I heard, sounding like the most quiet yelling ever, "Psst! Hey!"

I whipped my head up and saw Melanie waving me to come through the gate, looking around to make sure no one was watching. I tilted my head but came toward the gate leading to her backyard that was surrounded by a really tall privacy fence.

Okay_, I know we're trying to stay on the down low with this, but why is she being so weird about this?!_

I rolled my eyes and walked in to see Melanie standing there and she was still _whisper yelling_ at me, "I said to just come into the yard at 7!"

I put my hands up and just said, for whatever reason whisper yelling back, "Well… Sorry?"

I grunted before saying, finally going back to my normal voice, just fed up and still pissed about her giving me that low hit earlier and avoiding me for days, "Look, can we stop whispering already?! It's a total ghost town out here. No one's gonna hear squat."

I could see she was just as frustrated as me as she said, "Well… look, do you want to know anything or not?"

_Well, at least she sounded like she was talking normal._

Also, I think this is the most we've ever talked and the most I've ever seen her talk period at all.

She didn't wait for me to respond as she just crossed her arms and just turned and walked around the corner of her house and I just kept following her.

I saw a fire going in this raised metal fire pit near a patio table and chairs that had a pad of paper and colored pencils on it.

"What's all this? Are we making s'mores and coloring or something?" I asked really confused, raising an eyebrow at her as she sat down at one of the 2 metal patio chairs at the matching table.

"The fire is to help cover anyone overhearing us and this is to help… _explain."_ She said, putting her hand on the paper and finally looking at me again before motioning for me to sit in the seat across from her.

_Explain… with colored pencils and paper? What?_

I decided to just shrug and sit.

_As long as she tells me what the heck's happening, I don't care._

I sat down at the table and I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table, waiting for something to happen.

It was quiet for a really long time as I watched her lean away from me in her chair, looking more uncomfortable than what she did before this. Her eyes were shut as she let out a really long deep breath before opening her eyes and saying, glancing at me a little every now and then.

"Okay… um, first... I-I'm sorry, Dash. None of this was anything that I wanted to happen and I totally let it slip in the library yesterday with you and… I'm really, really sorry. But… this isn't something that's exactly _easy_ for me to admit and nor did I ever want to reveal this outside of people who already knew. That's why I wanted to make sure we were alone and that my parents were out of the house tonight. I know they would think I was crazy for telling anyone. But, I know I'm caught now, since you already guessed from _the obvious_. But, yes... I have powers." She admitted, still looking REALLY uncomfortable.

Honestly, I was kinda surprised by her saying sorry to me after totally avoiding me and getting mad at me earlier.

It was quiet again before I started, trying to figure stuff out, "Yeah, but… what are they? How long have you had 'em? What was with the _lights_ and feeling like?..."

"Look, stop! J-Just let me explain... okay?" She said, looking totally overwhelmed as she cut me off, putting her hands out in front of her. It threw me off as I put my hands up in front of me as I said, "Sorry…"

After that, it was probably the weirdest and most awkwardly silent moment of my life.

Well, it was until she took a deep breath and said, "Well, at first, I was never entirely sure _what_ they were. Actually, who am I kidding? I still don't know exactly what they are? But, anyway, I started to notice them when I was about 4 or 5. It wasn't anything weird to me at first, but… I noticed whenever I was around other people, I got these _feelings_. Like anytime I looked at anyone I could know exactly what they _felt_ and saw these different colored lights, like you call them, around everyone I saw. I don't know how else to explain it, but I thought it was _normal_. I thought everyone was like me. And anytime I did say something, my parents just treated it like it was just me being _a cute little girl with a lot of imagination_. Which only made me feel like I was normal even more. Then…"

She stopped for a second as she took a deep breath before she continued, "I didn't realize until I was 6 that something was _different_ about me. One night, I remembered waking up from a nightmare and both my parents came in to check on me to see if I was okay since they heard me crying. Both of them touched me and… right when they touched me, I could feel my feelings almost _extending _from me. I had no idea what was going on until my parents both immediately let go of me and were both curled up on the floor crying, acting like I just was when I was scared from my nightmare. Since I had no idea what was happening and I was only a little kid, I got even more scared. It wasn't until my parents _snapped out of it_ and realized that all those things they thought was in my imagination, were not _imaginary_."

She bit her lip as she stopped and let a deep breath, looking really nervous, "M-My parents never admitted it, saying I was a super or had powers or anything like that. Since supers were illegal and never talked about back then, I had no idea really what supers even were. Even as a kid, I almost took my parents telling me I was _different_ as being a weirdo or crazy... or something. Especially since everyday before we left to go somewhere, all they told me was that I _had to be careful around others since I was different_. Different. That's the one word that kept floating around my head. And it confused me for months until I noticed something. Remember the colored lights you saw around both of us that I told you I can see on others without even touching them?"

I nodded, still taking stuff in.

_How could I forget? That almost freaked me out more than me feeling like I was freaking out._

She took a handful of the colored pencils and started drawing on one of the sheets of paper. I tried to glance over more from where I was sitting to try and see what she was talking about.

But, then she slid over the paper at me.

I saw two stick figure people with colored lines around them. But, one of them had these zig-zag lines of colors around their body and the other one had more of a smooth outline of colors around them.

Then I saw a colored pencil Melanie was holding come in as she started using it like a pointer or something as she explained, "When I look at most people, like my parents, I see this. The colored lights I see around them are like this smooth glow of light that you'd see around a lightbulb. But, even as a kid I realized something, whenever I concentrated hard enough to see _my lights_ when I looked at my hands or feet, I saw the lights around me looked nothing like everyone else's I've ever seen. Mine almost looked like what I could only think of as a campfire, but like a colorful campfire. The lights and colors around my body whipped around me like flames. But, I just added that to me being _different_. Until I went with my parents to my mom's side a little before Christmas. My parents told my other relatives that I was going through a _phase_ where I didn't like hugging or touching people, but after that time they touched me and I made them cry and freak out… I was even scared so they also weren't wrong and my family just accepted that since I was still kinda little. At the time it was just me as the only grandchild so I didn't have any other kids around like cousins or anything so family gatherings were pretty quite anyway. My mom was the middle child of 3 and I have two uncles. My Uncle Peter was my mom's older brother and was about as normal a guy as you could find and was getting married in a couple months. So everyone was kind of making he and his fiancé the center of attention. And I decided to just go into the den where my grandma kept a whole bunch of toys for me to play with when I came over. I always noticed I felt a lot better when I was around less people or by myself but never thought much of it. Plus I liked being on my own a lot anyway at family stuff. It wasn't until my other uncle, my Uncle Simon, walked in to get a drink from the bar that was in the den that I noticed something I never paid attention to before. My Uncle Simon was a quiet lawyer and didn't have a family of his own. He was nice to me in his own way and would always send me birthday cards and stuff, but never really babysat me or spent much time with me outside family gatherings. Even at gatherings he was always really distant with everyone. My mom always just said he was _shy_ and liked to be alone. But, right at that moment was when I started to see my Uncle wasn't _shy_ or at least not just for the reasons I thought my mom said. I noticed something when I looked at my Uncle as he was pouring himself a drink."

She stopped and I leaned forward a little on reflex, trying to figure out where she was going with this as I asked, "What do you mean?"

Melanie bit her lip a little as she looked in another direction and started, "Well…"

_**11 years ago**_

_**({No POV})**_

_A young 6 almost 7 year old Melanie Frickowski was sitting on the floor playing with a rolling wooden toy horse that looked old enough to have been an old toy her mom used to play with as a child. She had a look of child-like focus somehow mixed with boredom._

_ She kept rolling the horse on the floor in front of the unlit fireplace behind her as she kept her attention on the toy until her Uncle Simon walked into the room, readjusting the glasses on his face and giving Melanie a small smile before looking away and walking over to the bar cabinet in the corner of the room and pouring himself a glass of scotch. _

_Melanie was about to look back at her toy until she saw something right as she was about to glance away. _

_Around his body, she saw the _colored lights _around his body weren't like everyone else's she'd ever seen. In fact, they were vastly different, but also familiar to her for an _entirely _different reason. Mainly, that they were like hers._

_The colors whipped around his body like a colored fire, but reflected completely different colors than those she'd seen on herself._

_ She was still completely surprised with her mouth agape in shock as she continued to observe the _phenomenon _as her uncle just took a sip from his tumbler before letting out a long sigh. _

_Right as he looked like he was about to turn to walk out of the room, Melanie's voice came back as she said, "U-Um, U-Uncle Simon?"_

_ He stopped his tracks and whipped his head over at her as he turned, looking like he was taken out of deep thought as he responded, "Huh?... Oh, sorry _Mel_. Did you say something to me?"_

_ The toy horse left her hand, long forgotten to her by now as she continued to contemplate to the best of her limited experience with conversation and her mentality due to her age, but she was trying to find the words. _

_She gulped and nervously wrung her hands together, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly as she hopelessly kept searching for a way for herself to ask her uncle the question she was aching to ask. _

_Her uncle even got a look of concern as he got slightly closer to her with a slight look of worry and confusion on his face as he took a knee and tilted his head at her and asked, sounding worried and perplexed to the nth degree, "Mel, are you okay?" _

_After a moment of silence and biting her lip, she shakily came out with, "U-Uncle S-simon? Are… are you _different _too?" _

_He tilted his head at his niece even more before she inquired, still entirely confused yet also still concerned, "_Different_? What do you mean?"_

_ Melanie in her own way for a child her age looked beyond confused, frustrated, and terrified. _

_She herself had no idea what exactly she was really even trying to ask about. All she knew was she was _different _and didn't know how exactly to tell him. _

_After a moment of thinking, Melanie acted on child-like impulse as she reach forward quickly with her right hand and put it on top of her Uncle's hands that were resting on his knee. _

_He almost looked like he was going to jump back until he froze in position as he felt an alien sensation running through his body and he stared wide eyes at his niece as he felt the sensation coming from his niece's hand. _

_Her Uncle didn't react as violently as her parents did, but out of fear of scaring her uncle, she withdrew her hand and then retreated slightly, curling up into a sitting fetal position and looking like she was about to get in BIG trouble._

_ She looked back up at her Uncle, who to her surprise and total confusion, no longer looked freaked out. _

_Instead, he was smiling ear to ear and his eyes were wide in fascination and almost… pride at his niece. _

_During that time he came closer to her, looking as excited as a child opening gifts on Christmas morning._

_ "Mel, do you want to see what I can do that makes me _different?" _He whispered, still using the family nickname for her. _

_Melanie looked at her uncle in total shock and confusion before her mind started acting on its own as she started nodding._

_ She got confused for a second as she watched her uncle look toward the dark fireplace and get a slightly cocky smirk on his face as he tipped down his glasses on his nose before Melanie fell backward in surprise as she saw red lasers shoot out of her Uncle Simon's eyes at the fireplace and igniting the wood to a steady but cozy fireplace burn. _

_Right after that happened Melanie's grandma called out, hearing the commotion in the other room, "Simon, what's going on in there?" _

_Simon was quick to respond to his mother as he replied, trying to sound as even as possible, "Nothing Ma. Melanie said she was cold so I started the fire for her in here." _

_"Okay, well just make sure to put the screen in front of the fireplace to keep her from burning herself." They both heard Melanie's mom chime in._

_ "No problem Marie." Simon replied back just as smoothly to his sister._

_ Simon put his glasses back in place before getting up and grabbing his glass of scotch and glancing back at Melanie before putting a finger to his lips with a slight smile and giving her a wink, almost as a sign that they were going to keep showing each other they had powers a secret._

_At least at the moment._

_**Present Day**_

_**(Dash's POV) **_

After hearing that whole story from Melanie just now, all I could thing of was one thing.

_Laser eyes?_ The only person I knew kinda, other than Jack-Jack, with laser eyes was…

"Dash, I know you probably guessed, but… this was my uncle." She pushed this picture toward me and it was a picture from _The Fallen Heroes_ article I remembered Dad kept in his office at home framed.

Once I was old enough, dad told me about what happened with Syndrome on Nomanisan Island and that many heroes were killed in Syndrome's experiments to create the most powerful Omnidroid robot that we took down in the city. But, mostly dad told me he found a body on the Island of one of the heroes he used to know from back in the day.

And I was looking at him in the picture right now.

_Gazerbeam._

"Dash, my Uncle Simon's full name was Simon Paladino, but you probably know him as Gazerbeam. I know I probably shouldn't have told you this, but he's… _gone_ now. Anyway though, after that he eventually did tell my parents he knew about my powers… after I found out my parents knew that my uncle had powers the whole time and never told me. But, after that he spent time with me whenever he had the chance and tried to help me understand my powers, since he'd never seen anything like my powers before. I could never figure out if he was just spending time with me because of my powers or not. Not that I thought he didn't love me or care about me, but him finding out I had powers like he did definitely had a lot to do with it. But, honestly I hardly cared. It was just nice knowing I wasn't alone." Melanie explained, looking a little sad.

I didn't really know what to say as I rubbed the back of my neck before putting my hands togather and saying, "Sorry."

She gave me nod, knowing what I meant by saying sorry about her Uncle dying. Hey, I'm still figuring stuff out right now, but I still felt bad about her uncle not being around anymore.

I thought for a second until something hit me as I asked, "Wait, so, no one else had powers in your family?"

"Nope. Just my uncle and I. My uncle said my grandpa, who died when my mom and uncles were growing up, had powers to control water and died doing hero work, but his death was covered up by him dying in a car accident. But, my grandma Paladino is totally normal like my Uncle Peter and my mom. According to my uncle, he thinks that super powers must be a rarely expressed recessive trait that hardly ever shows up unless both parents have it in their genetic code. That's why supers are so rare to come across. It comes up more when both parents have powers and even less when only one parent has powers… and then there's my parents. Neither of them have powers, but both of them must have been carriers for the gene. And the odds of those genes even matching up should've been nonexistent. A literal one in a million chance. And _I_ happened to be that nonexistent chance."

It was quiet as I took all that in. Even though this has been such a weird day. I couldn't shake it. "Man... this is so crazy." I said out loud, running a hand through my hair.

"I know, Its…" "This is awesome!" I said, standing up from my chair and feeling like I was going crazy but also totally into this.

"What?" I heard Melanie say, but I wasn't even paying attention as I kept talking out, "My whole life I thought I was alone and no other kids except for people in my family had powers. But now that I know you have powers too it…"

"Sucks."

I whipped my head behind me at Melanie who looked like she was receding into herself with how hard she was crossing her arms right now.

_Huh?_

I gave her the most confused look ever that I thought my head was going to completely go sideways.

"What sucks?" I asked, straight up and totally confused.

"My powers suck, Dash! I hate them! I hate them and I wish I never had them!" She lets out, totally losing it as I just locked up and stared at her.

**And the rest will be save for part 2 of this chapter *awaiting virtual tomatoes and boo's to be dished out at me*. XD But for real, as a person who works in medicine and lover of all things superheroes. I was always fascinated by the Incredibles universe since super powered children are a topic that's heavily focused on. So, I was always fascinated by the prospect of how supers come into being. So I hope you enjoyed the spin on the genetics that I included here on how super powered people come into being through natural means, and my addition of Gazerbeam as Melanie's uncle! I just thought it would be a cool addition to show how other supers conducted themselves outside of hero work and how they had private lives with extended family like everyone else. Also, I just really wanted to explore younger supers a lot more and I thought the additions of characters like Nova and Melanie would be interesting to add more depth. But, it appears that Melanie has a lot more that she needs to share? Tune in next time for more in part 2! Thanks for taking the time to read and constructive comments are always appreciated. Hope you all are staying safe and healthy out there.**

**Stay Classy and safe everyone!'**

**Dexter1995 **


	10. Explanation, part 2

**Hello again everyone! Just got time outside work to write up part 2! Hope you enjoy and hopefully this makes all your days a little bit lighter. :) **

**(Dash's POV)**

It was dead quiet and all I kept doing was staring at her after seeing her totally lose it.

But, that wasn't even all of it either.

_Huh? What does she mean she _hates _her powers? _

I couldn't fight it as I gave her the most confused look ever as I just asked, "But… why? Yeah some things can suck sometimes but..."

She looked up at me as she let her hands drop and were clenched so hard onto fists even I could see her knuckles turning white even though all we had was the fire at this point. Her eyes were narrowed at me _hard_ and I backed off a little, not knowing what she was gonna do.

She pointed at me and said, almost talking through her teeth, "_Sometimes?_ Are you kidding me right now?"

I put my hands up as I started totally backtracking from her getting heated about this, as I started, "Hey, I only mean that sometimes it can suck needing to keep your powers a secret and stuff like that. But having powers is cool! It makes us…"

"Makes us what? _Unique? Special? _HA! That's a bunch of crap. Okay, I know you're used to feeling like that since you're lucky enough to have powers you can flip on and off like a light switch and use to _show off_ in hero work to have the news _shower you with praise_ for it. But guess what, Dash?! Not all of us are _blessed_ like you, okay?! So don't you give me any of that '_we're special'_ crap."

I kept backtracking as I said, "Hey, I just mean that I get that…" "NO! You don't get anything Dash! You have no idea what it's like being me!" She stopped and took a deep breath, looking like she was trying to calm down and I backed off.

I had no idea what to say as she crossed her arms and looked up at me again before almost saying through her teeth, "Do you know what it's like _feeling_ everyone else's feelings 24/7? Do you know what it's like to have no real friends and having people look at you and think you're a total freak even though I'm only trying to keep people away from me to keep myself from scaring them? Do you _know_ what it's like having your own parents that love you be scared of you and be afraid to even touch you? Everyday of my life is mental _hell_. You have _no_ idea."

It was dead quiet except for the fire crackling as I took _all that_ in.

I had no idea what to do with any of that as she crossed her arms again and looked out into the yard, trying not to look at me. I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to think of what to say.

_I mean… geez. What do I do with this?! I feel sorry, but what do I say?!_

But then I thought back to what she said as I started, putting my hands into the pockets on my jacket, "Well, then you don't really know me then either. Do you think I _actually_ have _real friends?_ Cuz, trust me, I don't."

She let out the most sarcastic short laugh ever before huffing and remarking, "Yeah, coming from the _popular school running back_, that's such…"

"No, seriously. You think those guys on my team are _real friends_? Real friends actually know who you _really are_. Those guys don't know me at all. Cuz guess what Melanie? Believe it or not, but _this guy_ that you're seeing right now is a total _sham._ The letterman jacket wearing running back constantly surrounded by teammates?... that's _not_ me. Believe me, I mostly just got into sports to _fit in._ But I still can't and can never actually _fit in_. I can't compete or push myself like everyone else can. For me, I can't _do my best_ like everyone else _just_ because I have powers. I _always _have to hold back and _always_ have be the second or third best at everything and can _never _win anything on my own. I mean, c'mon! Only reason why I was a starter this season was because Keith 'weak ankles' Williams broke his ankle before our first game so I replaced him. I'm the fastest guy on the planet, but I _had_ to suck enough to still make the team but just to be second string and get poked at for _not making the cut _by a bunch of dill-weeds who I could literally run circles around. No one knows who I _really am_ except for my family… and well, you now I guess. So if you think I've got any _real friends_ or don't know what it's like to be _held back, _then you're dead wrong."

It was silent and she still wasn't even saying anything or even looking at me.

I thought she was just done and I was about to walk out until I heard her let out this long sigh and say, "Sorry…"

I stopped and felt like my head snapped back so hard I almost gave myself whiplash as I looked back at her. My eyes were almost falling out of my head when I noticed she was actually looking at me and acknowledging that I existed.

Well, at least until she looked away once we looked at each other and looked at the fire instead. She scrunched up her eyes for a second and let out a huge sigh before saying, "You're right. I was being a total jerk about it. I'm sorry, it's just that… UGH! It's just so… _frustrating_. I just hate everything about having my powers and not having anyone who understands. But, I've already done enough. You can go if you want, I get it."

After that it's like I was just… _stuck._ Almost like Lucius came by and froze my feet to the ground.

I didn't know what to do?

I mean, as much as I wanted to just bolt it out of there… I also didn't. Honestly, I actually feel really bad for her. Yeah, sure a lot of her stuff going on sounds _pretty heavy_, but… I also kinda get it.

I know how hard it is trying to keep up _normal life_ stuff and your real life with your powers. And at least I have my family and Lucius. But Melanie… she's pretty much got no one who gets it.

If I had normal parents who were scared to even go near me, I'd probably be more frustrated and pissed about stuff than I am now.

I kept looking at her as I awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck, trying to figure out what the heck to even say.

_Ugh, I'm not good with a lot of this 'feelings stuff'. _

I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth out some weird nervous reflex before saying, just going with my gut, "Well… would you like a friend who gets it?"

I almost couldn't believe I actually straight up said that out loud and I think Melanie was thinking the same as me since she looked like she was going to get hit by a bus.

"Huh?" She let out, sounding just as confused as she looked.

I let out a huge breath before going, "Look, I'm just gonna say that I've never seen anything like what you've got _going on_ before. But, I know where you're coming from though. And… I don't know about you, but I'd like to have someone outside my family that gets what's it's like to have powers. I don't know if it helps and I know I'm not some really smart guy like your uncle but, I learned how to use my powers so… maybe I can help?"

I held out my hand until I remembered her whole _touching people_ thing and put my hand back down, feeling stupid for a second as I said, "Sorry… but what do you say? Maybe we can hang out after school or something?"

She crossed her arms and bit her lip, looking at the ground then looking back up at me, before saying, "Look, Dash I… I appreciate it. You wanting to help me and everything but I don't know if…"

"C'mon. If anything I owe you since I'd be failing Math without your help," I pointed out, making both of us actually laugh until I realized, "Hey, wait, how did you always know when I needed help with my homework in study hall anyway?"

She bit her lip again before saying, "Well… I could see the _frustration_ in your aura from a mile away, so I always knew when you were stuck."

"But, why did you help me when I'm frustrated? I can't be the only one frustrated doing Math… especially the _drill sergeant's _stuff." I asked.

Honestly… I always really wanted to know this. As weird as I think she is, even though I get why now, I always wanted to know why she always would help me on my homework when she seems like she hates even coming within spitting distance of everybody. I still remember that time she pretty much juked out of the way from touching someone in the hall at school.

Also, what the heck is that _oh-rah whatever_ she keeps talking about? She turned away crossing her arms even tighter and even though it was dark… wait, is her face red?

I was pulled out of my zone when she said, "Promise you won't laugh at me for sounding pathetic?"

She sounded really nervous and embarrassed, but… I didn't get why? I shrugged before saying, confused but casual, "Yeah sure, why?"

I didn't care. I just _really _wanted to know why?

She let out this long sigh before saying, "Well, you… you were the only person that was ever nice to me outside my family. I never did anything to make you help me, but after that thing with Debbie picking on me back in junior high and then you saving me from being crushed by that semi when I only got in your way and totally slowed you down and frustrated you. You always helped me and I… I feel like I always _owed you_ since I could never figure out why you were never mean to me or called me _Freak-kowski _like everyone else. Even after all this with me avoiding you, freaking you out, and pretty much fighting you to stay away from me for no reason other than being a pathetic coward you're still not mean to me like everyone else and… I don't know? Go on. Go ahead, you can laugh."

I gave her a confused look as I put my hands in my pockets.

Okay, I'm totally overwhelmed as I thought about… _all that_, but I just answered almost automatically, "I'm not laughing."

Melanie gave me a shocked look before she evened out and said, "Doesn't explain why you were nice to me?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." I answered almost so automatic that I sounded like dad and it kind of freaked me out a little for a second.

But, I kept my cool as I answered, recovering but also honest, "Melanie, you should know more than anyone how much I hate bullies. People like Debbie just go out of their way to pick people apart and attack them just for being different. Especially since I'm different, I have no time for that crap… no matter how good I am at hiding that I'm different. And if you still think all that is BS… then I don't know what to say?"

"No. No Dash, sorry I… I'm sorry. I guess… I've just been so used to being treated like a _freak show_ my whole life that… I guess I don't understand what it's like to have someone actually be nice to me for no reason. Downside of having no friends." She let out an uncomfortable laugh, before looking like she was _retracting _into herself.

After a second, I gave her a look before saying, "Well… like, I said, if you want… we can be friends. Who knows, it might be cool having someone who kinda gets it, right?"

It was quiet until I was surprised when she actually looked at me and… _wait, she's smiling_. Well, kind of smiling. But for someone who's used to seeing Melanie everyday like she's constantly on the verge of a panic attack… even seeing her smile only a little is surprising to me.

But… I don't know?

I think I even got taken off guard more when she said, "If it's all the same though… can we only _do this_ after school? School gives me enough anxiety when being around other people."

_Wait… she's actually saying yes? _

I was going to let it off easy until I decided to get one more thing out of this.

I smirked at her as I started out, "Sure, that's cool… but, I have one more question." She gave a hesitant look as she said, "O-okay, what?"

"What the heck is an _o-rah_ or whatever that you keep talking about?" I asked, totally serious and confused.

She kept giving me that confused look until I saw her smile a little again before snorting out a laugh. I was even more confused until she went over to the table again as she picked up the paper she drew on with the stick figures with the colors around and started showing it to me again.

"These are aura's. It's what I call the colored lights I see around people after reading a couple books from a Psychic shop in the city. And yeah, all the stuff is pretty far out there and not proven and even I don't really believe it personally has any facts behind it, but… I don't know? Things like chakras, energy fields… it almost helps me make sense of everything I see. But, that probably sounds totally stupid and crazy to you." She admitted.

Even though now that she said that and made more sense, I shrugged and admitted, "Hey, trust me, weird kind of goes with having powers. Also, I'd be lying if I said all this was by far the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

We both let out a laugh before it went quiet again.

The fire kept popping and crackling in the fire pit until she said, "How about this? I can help you with homework, if you help me with my powers. I'll just tell my parents that Mrs. Danders is having us do group projects to explain why you're coming over. Sorry if I'm being really weird about this, but I just don't want my parents to know anything about this being about powers. The fact I even have any powers freaks them out enough and I don't want them to _stroke out_ or worry about anything."

As much as I wanted to say what was so weird about this, but… I figured it couldn't hurt, right?

I don't want mom and dad to start getting up in my business more than they already do either, especially mom. So, I could even tell them that maybe Melanie is tutoring me in Trig or something?

I decided to just smile and shrug as I said, "That's cool. So… see you Monday, I guess?" I was actually surprised that she smiled again as she said, "Yeah, sounds cool."

I gave her a wave since it felt awkward to just walk away doing nothing with her whole _not touching thing._ As I was walking away I heard, "Thanks Dash. For being cool about this. And I'm sorry if I _hurt you_ earlier."

I glanced back and saw her rubbing the back of her neck and looking really guilty, knowing she was talking about _kneeing me where it hurts_ earlier. Even though when she brought it up I could feel the memory of how much that really hurt, I just shrugged it off.

I just wanted to show her there was no hard feelings as I said, "Don't worry about it. Honestly I probably shouldn't have grabbed you off the street and freaked you out so I probably had that coming. Just call it even."

She breathed out a laugh before she went quiet. A couple seconds later, she looked back at me, actually looking kind of relaxed for once as she said, "Thanks again, Dash. Seriously."

I didn't really know what to really say, but I could see she really did appreciate all this.

So, I just smiled and said, "Yeah, no problem." I gave her one last nod before walking away.

Okay, wasn't really expecting any of that to happen, but who knows?

It might be cool.

**A bit of a short one, but I hope you enjoyed this interaction regardless about another side to the world of supers. I wanted to show how just because someone has powers doesn't mean it's always seen as an advantage. It seems like in the **_**Incredible's**_ **Universe, most super heroes have these physical based powers and I have always been a fan of super powers based off mentality like ****telekinesis ****or telepathy. So I figured it would be an interesting addition to add a character like Melanie who has more mental based powers but hates them because all they do is terrify her and make her wish she never had them for obvious reasons. But, Melanie's powers specifically will be elaborated on later. Plus, perhaps this will lead to the addition of future interactions with some fan favorites. ;) Anyway, I appreciate you all taking the time to read and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated. Hope you all are staying safe out there.**

**Stay Classy!**

**Dexter1995**


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